Sailor Moon X - the Next Generation
by Chris Sifniotis
Summary: After Sailor Moon and the rest of the scouts defeat Sailor Galaxia the world was made safe, over time as no new evil encroached the scouts decided to disband and live out their lives. Now, 25 years later a new threat looms over the Earth and it's a race against time to find and activate the new Sailor Scouts all over the world and defend against this new evil.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

 _25 years had passed since Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon had regained her memories from 1000 years before and began her quest to defend the Earth from the forces of evil. During that time Sailor Moon defeated the forces of the Dark Kingdom, including their leader Queen Beryl, the Makaiju Aliens and Tree, the entire Black Moon Clan whose efforts to destroy the future spilled into their past and thereby compelling the Sailor Scouts to intervene, the Death Busters, the Dead Moon Circus, Queen Nehellenia and, in quite possibly her most dangerous and daring feat of her strength and power, Sailor Galaxia by blocking her quest for ultimate power._

 _They were indeed the most trying five years of Sailor Moon's life and career, however upon destroying all these the Sailor Scouts achieved a total defence for the Earth and spread peace throughout the world with their acts of bravery and defiance to the evils of other worlds. Yet, as time passed and the demand of their powers diminished to non-existent the Sailor Scouts decided to disband and live out their lives as normal and pursue their desires. This was 15 years ago._

 _Today the world is a much different place; the peace the Sailor Scouts ensured was broken and the world quickly descended into protectionism, the heroism of the Scouts is long forgotten by the next generation and the audacity of their acts no longer looked up to. The world was left at a better place than that which it evolved into today, and to make matters worse the forces of evil were well aware of this turn of events. In secret and at the moment in hiding a new evil had been biding its time, waiting for the right moment to strike._

 _This is setting for the new Sailor Scouts to protect the Earth once again._

Chapter 1 - Consequences (Part 1)

It was a cold winter's day in Hinode. Found within the town at the west of Tokyo a modest yet large house sat along the main street. It was a large house compared to the rest of the neighbourhood, a creamy white exterior lined with flower beds, a second story room above the main entrance with a chimney beside it, and a gravel driveway leading into a garage. The front yard was ornate; a beautifully arranged garden dotted with Sakura and enclosing a Zen garden, complete with a fountain and a bench for quiet contemplation. Just before the doorstep and along the threshold of the garden the porch offered a view of the scene, a simple wooden deck looking out over the garden and the Sakura. Sometimes in a rare day in summer, the sun would rise through the trees and shine its golden light into the house, illuminating the garden in a rich haze.

Today however the day was bitterly cold, the sun hid behind an overcast sky and at the top of the mountains snow had begun to grow. A man exited the house, layered in a navy blue jumper and scarf, white woollen mittens and a black beanie. Clearly he was dressed for the weather. "Oh." the man uttered, "It's awfully cold." Briskly the man left, closing the door behind him, and rushed over to the letterbox. Running up the gravel he opened the box and promptly removed the letters before returning back. The letterbox read '18. Tsukino-Chiba.'

Inside the house was very much a modern structure; a large, open lounge space with a fireplace, a small yet open kitchen leading into the dining room, a hallway leading to the guest room and a study, and a staircase leading up to the bedroom. The man quickly entered the house to announce the mail. "Luna?" The man heard noise in the kitchen, frying and chopping. He walked across the lounge and into the kitchen to find Luna in her human form; Luna wore a full suit - white button shirt, frilled at the collar and the sleeves, business pants and jacket with a yellow orchid pinned to her left breast. Luna was preparing breakfast, a full English breakfast - bacon and eggs, tomatoes cooked and sliced, a couple of slices of toast, and a steaming hot green tea. "How's our patient?" The man asked.  
"She's recovering." Luna replied as she cut the tomato. "She's not up and about but her energy is coming back." Luna then placed the tomatoes into the frying pan and eggs onto the plate. "I'd say her cold has one day left."  
"That's great." he said. "You have a letter from Chibiusa." He places the letter on the marble counter and heads for the staircase to pay her a visit. Luna sighed as she continued to prepare the food.

Upstairs in the bedroom, under the thick covers and in flannelette pyjamas, an ailing woman sleeps. Her blonde hair long and flowing over the pillow, she slept comfortably, wrapped in her warmth. The man entered the room quietly, making sure he didn't wake her up. She was clearly having a pleasant dream, she was visibly smiling. Slowly he made his way to her side, stroking his hand over her neck. She let out a slight moan reacting to the touch, shifting her head to feel his warm hand. Then he knelt down to kiss her, the couple enjoying a moment of bliss in winter. The pair embraced each other as they continued to kiss. They let go of each other's lips and the man finally spoke. "Morning, Princess."  
She giggled as she opened her eyes. "Morning Mamoru." She yawned and began to stretch her arms and legs. "What's the mail?"  
"Not much." Mamoru walked around to the other side of the bed. "A couple of bills. Luna has a letter from Chibiusa."  
The woman sat up. "Oh. I haven't heard from her in a long time."  
"I know. I wonder how her art is going." The couple gaze into each other; Mamoru bathed in the light of the window behind him, the woman lit by the warm light of the room. "Even when you're sick you're still the most beautiful woman in the world Usagi."  
Usagi giggled again. "Yeah right." The two chuckle some more for a while.  
"How are you feeling?" Mamoru asked "Can you get up?"  
Usagi took a moment to assess herself. "I think so." After a second she gets up and out of the bed. "I shouldn't do anything but I can come downstairs."  
"I wouldn't worry about that now. Come back to bed, Luna's cooking up a big breakfast for you."  
"Oh yum!" Usagi went right back to bed and again wrapped herself in the covers.  
Mamoru laughed "Are you going to fake a cough?"  
Immediately Usagi responded, feigning a couple of coughs. "Thanks for the idea."  
Mamoru laughed some more and got up from the bed, walking out of the room and patting her hip as he passed by. The sound of Mamoru walking down the stairs was followed by another walking up.  
"Breakfast is ready." Luna entered the bedroom with a loaded tray full of food and drink.  
Continuing to feign a worse illness, Usagi coughed some more as she sat up for the meal. "Thanks Luna." She smelled the alluring fragrance. "Ooohhh, bacon and eggs."  
"Indeed." Luna itemizes her creation. "Eggs and bacon with sliced tomatoes, cut toast and Green Tea with a spoonful of honey."  
"Yum!" Usagi exclaimed as she tucked into her breakfast. "Luna, did you know you're such a good cook?"  
"Considering I only learned how to cook ten years ago yes I think I've done quite well." Luna chuckled for a moment as Usagi ate.  
"Can I ask you something Luna?" Usagi asked. Luna nodded in reply. "I know I've asked this before but are you sure you're not put out being my servant?"  
Luna laughed a single "Ha! Not at all. I really don't mind. I will always be by your side Usagi, and it gives me something to do as a human."  
Usagi cut up one of her fried eggs. "Really? You wouldn't prefer a job like a scientist or a designer?" She paused to eat some more egg. "Or a chef?"  
"I do consider a change from time to time, but then I remember all that you've done for me and for everyone, and I feel a great sense of warmth simply by knowing you." Luna pauses to walk up to Usagi's side and smile. "Never mind helping you."  
Usagi stopped eating, feeling a bit flustered. "I didn't know you felt that way Luna."  
Luna sat down beside Usagi. "Of course I do. You found a way for me to transform into my human form, you've extended and enriched my life considerably. I can't thank you enough for that." Luna paused to rest her hand on Usagi leg. "You've given me a life Usagi. I can never repay that kind of gift, but I can always provide you with help and advice like I used to do before, and like what I'd like to provide to you in the future."  
Usagi smiled back at Luna, understanding the gravity of her friendship. "You're welcome Luna."  
Luna patted her leg and got back up. "Now. You better eat and get your strength up if you want to beat your cold." As she ate Usagi stuck up her thumb, approving of Luna. Luna then began to leave. "I'll see you in an hour to check up."  
"See you Luna." Usagi spoke with a mouthful of food as Luna left the room and went downstairs. With her food eaten she began to drink her tea, thinking about Luna and her past. For the time she knew her Luna was a sprightly young cat with an attitude and an acumen for hostile situations, as time went on Luna became a loyal house pet and a good friend to Usagi and the scouts. Then as Luna began to age Usagi used her powers to transform and fix Luna into her human form and while she retained her attitude it seems Luna hid within her a great sense of appreciation, and that motivated her to become a better friend to Usagi. "Wow!" Usagi uttered "Fifteen years of gratitude." She continued to drink her tea, feeling a greater warmth inside her, the knowledge that she has a true friend in Luna.

Usagi wouldn't know about it now but her locket, still attached to her senshi uniform in the wardrobe, had begun to flash, and it required her attention.


	2. Chapter 1 Part 2

Chapter 1 - Consequences (continued)

Later that day the house was still very much active; Luna was done in the kitchen and was now tiding Usagi's room, straightening up the bed and picking up her clothes. Usagi herself was busy behind the locked door of the ensuite, taking a shower to warm up and refresh herself to start her day. Mamoru was out, taking the time to do the shopping for the house while Usagi was still recovering from her cold. Luna sighed at a pile of shirts. "Oh dear. You'd think by now Usagi as a 39 year old would be more responsible with her clothes." As the shirts lived in a dresser Luna completely overlooked the wardrobe, the locket still blinking a white light and still, even now, casting a pulsing white light inside the cupboard. "There." Luna sighed again. "Done." She also noticed that the sound of water raining down in the shower had stopped. "I better go. Don't want to catch her naked." Luna rushed out of the room and closed the door behind her.

For a brief moment the room was empty; the bed, covered in white sheets and a thick white cover, was tidy. Beside it two bedside chests flanked the bed, each with a lamp and Usagi's side piled with old magazines for light reading. The work desk was placed beside the large window overlooking the neighbourhood, complete with books and a laptop. The wardrobe and dresser were beside each other and opposite the bed; the dresser featured a large mirror with a decorative edge full of stained glass that was crafted by Michiru when she was still in Japan. After a rattling from the ensuite door Usagi opened it and in a cloud of steam she entered the bedroom in just white lase underwear and a pink towel wrapped around the top of her head. She made straight for the dresser and pulled out a fresh set of pink flannelette pyjamas. After a moment of fitting and adjusting herself, giving her hair a final rub, taking the towel back to the ensuite and tying her hair in front of the dresser into her signature dumplings she decided to get her robe for extra warmth and went to the wardrobe.

She opened the wardrobe and initially payed no attention at all to the light, she reached for the robe and was about to close it again before simply looking at her old senshi uniform and noticing the light source. The light was neither bright nor directly facing her but Usagi saw the light and paused to examine it further. "What the?" she uttered; now reaching for the uniform. Taking it out the sight of the clothes instantly brought back memories of the past, her teenage years in the metropolis, discovering Luna the cat, becoming Sailor Moon and the constant, _constant_ fighting. And of course meeting Mamoru for the first time, nurturing their love for each other. For a second Usagi smiled, reminiscing about the past and forgetting why she putted out the uniform in the first place, but then she looked at the locket and the blinking light snapped her out of her daze. "What the?" Usagi repeated herself. She turned to her bed and laid the uniform down onto the bed as she put on her red robe thinking to herself. What could this be? What does it mean? Maybe Luna knows what this is. After she finished tying her robe she removed the locket from the uniform and decided to find Luna and bring it up.

Downstairs Luna was sitting on the couch, patiently waiting for Usagi to dress up and exit the bedroom, reading a book on Greek mythology. Ever since Usagi transformed Luna into a human Luna became very interested in reading, mostly history and fantasy. She is most interested in how the Earthlings viewed the Moon and the Moon Kingdom; as it turns out there isn't anything on the latter subject before the turn of the century. "Luna." Usagi climbed down the stairs to find Luna.  
"Yes?" Luna replied while still reading.  
"I have a question to ask about my locket." Usagi walked over to the lounge, finding Luna wrapped in her book.  
"Which locket?" Luna asked and then turned to Usagi, seeing the Crystal Star and the crescent moon flashing a pure white light.  
Luna immediately knew what that was, but strangely she decided to hide that fact. "Hm, I'm not sure." Luna marked her place in the book and got up to examine it further. Usagi handed Luna the brooch and Luna feigned observation. "I've never seen the locket do that." Luna then opened the locket to pretend to look the Silver Crystal. "It's not the crystal."  
"Luna." Usagi tried to snap Luna out of her rouse. After a moment of non-compliance she repeated herself. "Luna!" Luna, clearly panicked and visibly sweaty from stress, looked at Usagi, unamused at the display. Luna's expression turned to disappointment as Usagi continued. "You're a terrible liar Luna. How about you tell me what's happening?"  
Desperate Luna continued the deception. "I don't know what you're talking about Usagi."  
"Please don't Luna." Usagi raised her hand in front of Luna. "Earlier today you told me about how much I mean to you. Please tell me you haven't forgotten about that."  
After a second of silence Luna took a deep sigh and surrendered. "Alright. I'll tell you Usagi." Luna paused to walk to the couch and gestured to Usagi. "Please, take a seat." Usagi obliged and went around Luna to sit beside her on the faux leather couch.

Another moment of silence descended over them, Usagi and Luna looked straight at each other for a couple of seconds without talking. Then Luna began to explain herself. "It's an indicator. It receives information onto it about any new evil activity anywhere in the universe and directly informs you as Sailor Moon about it."  
Looking directly into her eyes Usagi didn't find a lie in Luna's explanation. "Okay. So how do I access it?"  
"You don't." Luna took a second to phrase the new sentence carefully. "What that actually is is an indicator for Sailor Moon - you - to reactivate the Sailor Scouts."  
As she heard this Usagi's jaw slowly dropped. "Reactivate?!" Luna slowly nodded, visibly concerned at the information. "Luna, you realize we can't do that, right?"  
Luna nodded quicker. "Oh, I'm well aware of that."  
"It's been two decades since our last attack. That and most of the scouts aren't even here anymore! They've all moved on with their lives."  
Luna nodded furiously. "Yes yes, I know. It's just you, Rei, Makoto, Setsuna and Chibiusa."  
Usagi paused and leaned back into the couch. "Don't bring Chibiusa into this."  
Luna tilted her head slightly. "We may have to." Usagi looked off to the side and sighed, visibly upset at the statement. "Chibiusa is 31 now; she's in a much better position than you right now to fight the new threat."  
"She shouldn't have to fight."  
A slight frown appeared on Luna's face. "That's not up to you to decide for her."  
"I'm her mother!" Usagi snapped back at Luna whose is now somewhat distraught. "My decision is based on protecting her."  
"Usagi." Luna paused to reach over to Usagi. "She's a grown woman now. She can take care of herself." Hearing that Usagi looked away from Luna again. "Chibiusa has proven to be a strong and powerful fighter both in and out of her uniform. Do you genuinely expect me, or any one of us for that matter, to believe that she cannot protect herself?"  
After a pause a single tear ran down Usagi's cheek, she turned back to Luna again and explained herself as she began to sniffle. "No matter how old she is, she will always be my child Luna. No self-respecting mother stops worrying about their child."

Luna simply nodded for a moment; she feels that she understands how Usagi feels. Luna stood and walked right up to Usagi. "I can understand that you want to protect Chibiusa from harm. In this case however I think that not only is Chibiusa capable of assuming the role of a full Sailor Scout, I do in fact believe she can be the new Sailor Moon."  
Usagi looked up, a bit confused at the last statement. "What do you mean 'new'?"  
Luna reached out to Usagi, pulling her up from the couch. "It's something I never really thought I would need to tell you, seeing as Chibiusa is already a Sailor Scout of sorts, but the power of the scouts is hereditary."  
"Hereditary?" Usagi asked, still confused.  
"Yes. It means the power passes down from generation to generation. Your children have the power of the scouts, Ami's children, Rei's children, Makoto's, every member of the senshi can pass the power of the scouts down into their kin."  
"Wow!" Usagi exclaimed, but was still confused. "Wait, hang on. How does it pass down?"  
Luna's eyes widen. Did she really just ask that question; she thought. "I'm sorry?"  
"How can the power of the scouts be passed down? Isn't that in our blood?"  
"Oh. Not exactly." Luna sighed in relief. "It's in our DNA, which means that when you..." Luna took a moment to carefully phrase the rest of the sentence. "Uh...become romantic...with a pers-"  
"I know what you mean Luna, keep going." Usagi nods along with Luna.  
Luna chuckles embarrassingly. "Yes; your child will have the power of the scouts in them as part of their DNA."  
"Is it affected by gender?"  
"Yes, it can only be found in women and girls." The two paused for a while; Usagi began to think about how the scouts could be reformed, Luna already doing so herself.

"Okay." Usagi began "We cannot form the original Sailor Scouts; me and more or less everyone else is now too old to fight. I know I'm in no condition to do it again. But what we can do is call everyone and spread the word, see if they can help."  
Luna nodded along with Usagi. "My thoughts exactly. We can contact everyone in Japan right now."  
"Yes we can." Usagi interjected. "But I don't have everyone's contact details. I can only talk to Ami in Germany and Michiru in Australia."  
"I've thought of that." Luna replied. "Ami and Michiru are enough; Ami can relay the message to Minako and Hotaru in Europe and Michiru can contact Haruka in America."  
Usagi paused for a moment. "Is that everyone?" Luna nodded, smiling.  
Usagi then thought of another person. "What about Yuuichirou? He'd need to know."  
Luna hadn't considered him. "Oh. Yes, you're right. We should tell Michiru to relay the message to him as well." The two women were finally in agreement and before long they both heard a car pull into the garage. It was Mamoru returning from the shops. "I'll help Mamoru with the shopping, how do you feel about sending messages to the senshi?"  
"Sure!" Usagi exclaimed. "I'll go back to bed to and use the computer. Can you tell him about this?"  
"Of course." Luna walked over to open the door and carry Mamoru's bags, Usagi went back upstairs to start emailing and messaging all her friends.

However, on the other side of the universe the evil watched with its invisible eye, scouting the solar system and its inhabitants, determining the best way to conquer this new corner of space.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - the Grand Plan

Deep, deep into the furthest reaches of space, the vast expanse of pitch black nothingness, a strange galaxy can be found - a strange spiral galaxy bathed in purple light, coloured with blue and maroon nebulae. It is here, in this corner of the universe, where the Negaverse reside. For thousands of years the Negaverse had expanded beyond their galactic boundaries, conquering new sections of space and ruling over billions of men, women and aliens from every galaxy they encounter. Today the Purple Serpent would visit the Solar System once again - at nearly the same time the Dark Kingdom began its attack on the Earth in 1992 the Negaverse had sent out a spy drone to analyse the system. The events that took place - the attacks in Tokyo, the rise of Sailor Moon and the destruction of the Dark Kingdom - provided invaluable information about the Earth and the Sailor Scouts. Using this knowledge the drone fled the system at hyper-light speed, orders of thousands of times faster than the speed of light. Today, 25 years hence, a far more advanced drone returned to the system, hidden deep within the Kuiper Belt and transmitting information across the known universe.

Within a tall crystalline structure on an alien world, as the sun was setting and causing the sky to turn a vivid violet, a lone man stood in front of a large screen. It was a polished crystal surface displaying telemetry from the spy drone. The entire space was lined with polished crystalline features; shining, transparent surfaces, straight and solid. The only light in the room was from the screen as the man continued to scan the data, the only sounds were the beeping and tones from the data.

Then footsteps approached. "General. The Council has summoned you." A young man stood behind the General; navy hair and wearing the full military uniform for a Captain. The General just stood there, constantly reviewing the data, and simply responded with a grunt. The young man called out again. "General?"  
"Are you aware of the first sighting of System 2416 Captain?" The General asked.  
"Somewhat." The Captain walked up beside the General. "I understand a war was playing out. The inhabitants of 2416-3 fought to defend their home-world from the forces of 3515-5. That ultimately led to the capitulation of the 3515 empire."  
The General turned to the Captain. "They have names Zoad. Earth, Darklings, the Dark Kingdom." He turned back to the screen. "It'll serve you well to know these. Learning about their culture, their beliefs, their way of life. This is the vital information we need to undermine a race."  
Captain Zoad replied "I'll stick to numbers and co-ordinates. No sense in validating inferiors."  
The General slightly shook his head. "There's more to this world than all that." He reached over to a picture of the Earth. "This area for instance," pointing at Japan "The entire war was fought in this region. Nowhere else in the entire planet do the Darklings wage a battle. Not here," pointing at Europe "Where the majority of the land is divided by ancient nations with checkered pasts and buried resentments, or here," pointing at America "A nation so devout to the ideals of 'freedom' that it openly contradicts itself and engages in violent and deadly protest." The General recoils. "It's amazing that such a country even exists! It's a melting pot of ideas that occasionally erupts into violence. No, they wage their war there," pointing at Japan again "A stable nation with technological advancement. An ill-considered choice on their part." The General turns to the Captain. "This campaign is actually an extremely rare case, as far as I know it's never happened before. An _inferior_ race defeating a _superior_ race."

Zoad nodded along. "I understand. Knowledge of a planet's history can change the nature of its destiny."  
"Almost. Knowledge of a planet's past can change the nature of its present in such a way that its future becomes predetermined. It is through a mastery of history that we can then use it to bend an entire people to our will."  
"So then," Zoad began to ask "What does the great Second Rank General Tsajei have in mind for Earth?"  
"Quite simply a series of attacks, here, here, here and here." Tsajei began to point at various regions of the Earth. "These superbeings were successful in combat in single locations. A true test of their metal will be if a vast quantity of attacks take place at the same time. Can they fight in multiple locations at once?"  
Zoad continued to nod. "I see. Very interesting. However why target the superbeings?"  
"Because Zoad, of all the superbeings I have ever encountered it is they, on that planet, who are the most dangerous in the universe. They are exceedingly powerful fighters, they can easily destroy us if they had a mind to, and they're power is amplified when grouped together. If we want to take over 2416-3 we must find a way to nullify these superbeings." Tsajei turned back to Zoad. "From there capitulation is simply a matter of total chaos of the planet."  
"Genius!" Zoad exclaimed. The two agreed with each other for another second before Zoad reminded Tsajei. "The Council will be most pleased with this plan."  
"We'll see about that." General Tsajei and Captain Zoad both left the room, leaving the screen on to continue processing the data.

As the two men left the structure Tsajei thought to himself, How can you defeat a being of such great power? Perhaps I don't need to.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - Reunion

 **20 years ago**

Outside Hikawa Shrine Usagi, Makoto and Minako were all walking up the steps to enter the shrine, the large stone staircase rising from the ground. The three girls were chatting about their futures in K.O. University; Usagi discussed her studying her arts degree and where it would take her, and the other two talking about finding love in between lectures. They reached to top of the steps and continued forward. "But Usagi I can't concentrate at university, there's so many cute guys I keep losing my focus." Makoto complained.  
"Well I seem to be doing okay." Usagi replied "My professor said I had improved a lot from my first year."  
"Well firstly," Minako interjected "Your class doesn't have all the studs, like Benjiro or Jyo."  
"Or Ozuru." Makoto pointed out.  
"Oh! I love Ozuru, he's so strong and handsome." Minako swoons "And I really like Lee, the Australian guy."  
They both look back at Minako. "Really?"  
Minako blushed "Well yeah, he's hunky." She then giggled as Makoto continued the point. "And secondly it's an Arts degree. It's _really_ easy!"  
"Oh pft!" Usagi blew a raspberry at them both and they broke out in laughter. The girls could hear everyone at the other end of the courtyard; most of the girls were chatting amongst each other with one notable exception - Michiru was practicing her violin, performing a slow, lilting solo performance. Haruka and Chibiusa were the only ones focused on the music; Chibiusa just stared at Michiru, lying done on the deck, while Haruka sat up, resting on a post and with eyes closed, imagining a romantic scene through the music.  
Then as soon she saw Usagi and the others Chibiusa called out to them. "Usagi-chan!" She stood up and waved for their attention, and as she did so she drew the attention of the rest of the girls who then waved and called out to them as well. The girls all gathered and greeted them, chatting about university, careers and their futures. There were all doing that nowadays, most of the girls were in university and studying various degrees. Only Chibiusa and Setsuna were not in university; Chibiusa was still much too young for university - she was still in junior school. Setsuna in the other hand completed her Physics course and was now searching for a career in science; she preferred anything in the field of astronomy.

Ami was a bit distracted, she was talking with the others but she suddenly stopped; a thought just occurred to her. "Excuse me." She says before walking quickly to her backpack. The rest of the girls keep on chatting while Ami rifles through her bag to find her calculator. She types in some numbers and functions, and after pressing equals her eyes widen and she immediately re-joins the group. "Hey guys." She said, trying to draw everyone's attention. Slowly everyone finished and turned to Ami, she held up her calculator which simply read '917'.  
"What's that Ami?" Usagi asked.  
"Duh, it's 917!" Rei heckled.  
"I know that Rei!" Usagi shouted back at her "But what does 917 mean?"  
"Rei, please." Ami replied "917 is the number of days since we defeated Sailor Galaxia. It's now been two and a half years since we were Sailor Scouts."  
A silence descended over the group, two and a half years had passed and no one noticed. They all looked at each other for a few moments, they were all trying to see whether or not someone knew about it, but all they saw were the blank eyes of the girls who were so wrapped up in their personal lives they actually forgot who they were. "Has it really been that long?" Makoto asked.  
"I'm afraid so. Usagi saved all of us on September 7, 1995."  
"How do you remember that?" Haruka inquired.  
"I wrote it down in my journal." Ami paused for a moment to look at Usagi personally. "It was the day Usagi saved me, all of us, the world from Galaxia. It's not something I want to forget."  
Usagi smiled back at her, but Rei broke the moment. "So what does that mean then? Do we remain as Sailor Scouts are are we no longer needed?"  
Ami sighed "That's a very good question. I think we should talk to Luna and get her input."  
"Wait!" Chibiusa interrupted "Stop! We're not breaking up the Scouts."  
"Chibi!" Usagi called out "We're not breaking up anything. But Ami is right, we should talk to Luna." Usagi sighs "Maybe she can help us with what to do next."  
 **"NO!"** Chibiusa protested more "We can't." She started to punch Usagi and throw a tantrum.  
"Hey!" Usagi quickly grabbed hold of Chibiusa's wrists and as she did Chibiusa began to cry. "Stop that." It was clear that Chibiusa was disturbed by this chain of events; she believed the dissolution was going to happen and that she would never grow up to be a proper Sailor Scout like Usagi. But Usagi was not prepared to throw away her responsibilities so quickly. "Stay here guys, I'm going to get Luna." Usagi lets go of Chibiusa, but before she sets off she kneels down to Chibiusa and talks to her. "Chibi." Chibiusa was still sobbing. "Chibi, look at me." She did so and her eyes, made watery by her tears, glistened in the sunlight. "Chibi, I promise I won't break up the scouts. Okay?"  
"Yes you will." Chibiusa sniffled "You have no one left to fight. You don't need to protect the world anymore."  
Usagi tried to smile to cheer her up, but when she heard that she just couldn't do it. "Chibi. I can't promise that we will be around forever, but I can promise you that we will all be here for you." Chibiusa began to feel better but she was still crying. "We may not be Sailor Scouts, but you will always be our friend," Usagi finally found the courage to smile "And my daughter." Before starting to cry herself. The two hugged each other, Chibiusa more tightly than Usagi. After a moment's embrace they let go, Usagi reached out to Chibiusa and they held hands. Usagi stood up and asked the girls "Guys, keep Chibi happy while I get Luna." Usagi then ran to the stairs and down them until she was out of sight. Chibiusa was still very upset and teary-eyed but Michiru and Setsuna both went up to her and held her hands.

It would be the longest five minutes of Chibiusa's life.

* * *

 **the Present Day**

A day passed at the house and the residence was more energetic. Having gotten over her cold Usagi was up and about, sort of; she sat at the lounge typing on her laptop - when she wasn't writing her memoirs of her experience as Sailor Moon she usually keeps in regular contact with some of the scouts and her other friends. Today she was sending an email to Naoko Takeuchi about a leave of absence; she and Naoko have been collaborating for the past few years into making her stories and fights into an anime. Usagi continued to type her email;  
Hi Naoko! :)  
I love the latest episode, you got everything right.  
I'm letting you know that I'll be away from the computer for a while but not for long. I have to go and catch up with some old friends and I'll be out of Japan. I'll give you another email in about a week or so and we will pick up where we left off. When I come back I'll visit you.  
See you soon,  
Usagi-chan :)  
Meanwhile Luna was finishing off her lunch by the kitchen counter, a steaming hot chicken broth to warm up in winter. She was also monitoring the kettle; it was preparing to boil for a large pot of tea as visitors were expected to arrive soon.  
"Sent!" Usagi exclaimed. She closed her laptop and got up. "I'll just quickly put this back." Usagi then quickly walked to the stairs to head for the bedroom.  
"Don't be long!" Luna yelled out "Setsuna said they'll be-" The doorbell interrupted her warning, Luna sighed and continued softly. "Be here now." Luna finished her lunch and quickly disposed of her bowl in the sink before tending to the door.

Outside the door four women stood on the porch, all were chatting amongst themselves. Standing by the door was Chibiusa, all grown up. Like her mother she still wears her bright pink hair in two elongated buns, in fact she bears a striking resemblance to Black Lady except that she wears golden crescent earrings like her mother and white hair clips. Having just come from the shrine Rei was still in her miko robes, she no longer has the same time to socialize than when she did as a teenager, with Grandpa gone she now has to tend to the grounds herself with whatever help that comes by. Makoto was sharing some of her latest creations with everyone, her time in K.O. University was productive but her true passion was always in cooking. After she completed her course in university Makoto pursued a career as a chef in Tokyo and after many years of practice and hard work she became the head chef at a one Michelin star restaurant in downtown Tokyo. Setsuna was discussing with the others about the latest discoveries from her work. Setsuna's passion in science payed off dividends; Setsuna completed her Physics degree with a thesis on the Higgs Field and the fate of the universe. She was soon chased up by scientists and astrophysicists from JAXA - the Japanese Space Agency - who read her thesis and offered her a position; she promptly accepted the offer and still works in JAXA today. Recently she travelled to Switzerland to conduct experiments with the CERN super-collider and gather information on the Higgs Boson.  
However today Setsuna was more interested in the Solar System in general. "You know NASA says that Pluto's strange orbit might have to do with it being so close to Charon, the two dwarf planets orbit each other and create what's called a barycentre."  
"What?" Makoto asked "So that's why its orbit doesn't line up?"  
"Maybe. It's so far away in the Kuiper Belt we just can't see it from here. We were really, really, _really_ lucky that the New Horizons probe past by it so we can see it up close."  
"Wow." The girls reacted, kind of understanding her but mostly not.  
Then they heard the doorknob rattle before opening up to reveal Luna. Seeing Chibiusa at the door Luna immediately leapt out. "Chibiusa!" The two hug each other for a while. "How are you? I haven't seen you in a long time."  
"I know, I know." Luna let go of her to let her speak "I've been painting like crazy to finish my new piece. Miss Yumeno is such a talented artist, I love learning from her."  
"Well Usagi remembers her; she always said that her art was beautiful."  
 **"HEY!"** Luna and Chibiusa were spooked into stopping and turning to find the other three women, Rei was visibly upset. "We're here too you know!"  
Luna chuckles nervously. "Sorry Rei and everyone. Please come in, the tea is nearly ready." Luna moved out of the way to let all the women in; as they did she closed the door behind her.

The women all walked in and took their places on the couch, while Luna was preparing to serve. "Usagi will be down in any minute now. I'll go and get the tea." As soon as Luna walked off into the kitchen Usagi came back down to see her finds again.  
Usagi walked over the couch and began to greet everyone. "Hi guys, how are you?"  
Everyone stood up to hug her. Chibiusa was the first to reply. "I've been great. I was talking to Luna about my art."  
"Oh yay! I've love to see it."  
Chibiusa decided to declare everyone's news. "Rei's been keeping busy at the shrine, Mako has brought one of her newest dishes, and Setsuna has just come back from her trip to Zurich."  
"Wow!" Usagi exclaimed "You all have so much to tell."  
"Yeah." Rei added "It's been a busy month."  
Everyone sat back down as Usagi started today's gossip. "How is the shrine?"  
Rei let out a brief sigh "Well the help is getting us by. I have a new guy sweeping down the grounds, but with me, him and two others it's still a big job to keep it tidy and to keep it going."  
"I'll put in another donation later in the week."  
"Thanks Usagi, but I'll be fine."  
Usagi's smile lowered. "Are you sure? I really don't mind, and I'll always support you."  
"Yeah, thanks Usagi." Rei sighed and before Usagi could continue "You know I kinda wish for the good old days. You know, when smartphones didn't ruin a lot of socialization. I actually think the iPhones and all that helped to reduce the number of visitors we used to get."  
"Yeah." Makoto interjected "The whole social media deal. It was a good idea but it went wrong somewhere."  
"Well social media nowadays tends to be fake." Usagi added "You know I think I have something like 900-something million followers on Facebook. I hardly know any of them. They're just random fans from all over." A brief pause fell onto the group. "So you brought some food Mako?"  
"Yep." Makoto pulled out a container full of sushi. "Lots of sushi to try out."  
"Yum!" Usagi drooled over the different Inarizushi, Oshizushi, Makizushi, Makoto even tried her hand at making Uramaki for the first time.  
"Pick out which one you want." Makoto offered, and everyone dove into them.  
Just then Luna appeared with a tray of tea. "Tea is ready." She put down the tray onto the table and poured the tea into all the mugs, passing each on out to the women one by one. As soon as everyone got their tea she poured some for herself and joined the group. "So, what's been happening?"  
"We're just trying out some of Mako's new sushi." Usagi picked up the plastic container. "Have some Luna!"  
"They look good." Luna finds a square of Oshizushi and eats it whole. "Oh wow. That's so good."  
"Nishin." Makoto pointed out "I found a great place that sells beautiful herring." With full mouths all everyone could do was nod and mumble in approval. "Aw, thanks guys."  
After a moment Usagi swallowed the last of her sushi. "Setsuna, how was Switzerland?"  
After another moment Setsuna did the same thing. "It was wonderful. I haven't been to Europe since my trip to visit Hotaru." Setsuna paused to lie back onto the couch. "You should all see it; the snow-capped mountains, the friendly people, Lake Geneva, the Matterhorn. The country is so beautiful. It actually reminds me of Japan a little."  
"It wasn't all that though was it?" Rei intervened "You did some experiments there."  
"Oh yeah, but I really don't want to bore you with mindless science talk."  
"It's okay Setsuna." Usagi encouraged her "Tell us."  
"Well we've been conducting tests at the CERN Large Hadron Collider on Higgs bosons. We've been trying to work out some of the undefined properties of the boson and then use that information to hopefully prove the existence of the Higgs field."  
"Oh wow. How did it go?" Usagi gasped.  
Setsuna sighed "Inconclusive. We didn't find anything new that wasn't already discovered."  
"Aw." Usagi groaned, she didn't really understand what was going but she still felt bad for Setsuna. Usagi drank the last of her tea and then got up. "Luna, can you fill everyone in? I need to get my locket."  
"Sure." Luna replied and Usagi then walked off to go upstairs.

"What's going on?" Rei asked.  
"Well, there's a reason we have asked you to come over. It seems that we need to have a meeting."  
"A meeting?" Makoto added.  
"Yes. I'm afraid it's very important." Luna paused to lean into the group. "Sailor business."  
 **"WHAT?!"** Rei shouted. Audible gasps came from everyone as Usagi was coming down the staircase.  
"You can't be serious." Makoto protested.  
"I'm afraid she is." Usagi walked up to the group, showing them the Crystal Star and it's still blinking light. Everyone focused on the locket, the pink outer casing, the golden trim and the four colour circles of the inner senshi, but most of all the golden crescent that every couple of seconds flashed a white light through its shape. "The Sailor Scouts need to reform."  
The women looked at each other, plainly bemused at this turn of events. "But Usagi." Setsuna interjected "I'm 42! I can't go back to being Sailor Pluto anymore."  
"Yeah. None of us can." Rei added.  
"We know that." Luna said "That's not why you're here."  
"Noone is asking you to become Sailor Scouts again." Usagi added "In fact I'm asking you to find your daughters and see if _they_ are Sailor Scouts."  
Everyone gasped again. "Our daughters?" Makoto inquired.  
"I can't believe that is happening." Rei kept shaking her head, her hand over her head.  
"Our daughters? Is that possible?" Setsuna added.  
"Yes it is." Luna answered.  
"Of course it is." Chibiusa interrupted. Everyone turned to her and it suddenly dawned on everyone that it was always possible.  
"Of course!" Setsuna exclaimed. "Sailor Chibi Moon."  
"Actually." Usagi went over to Chibiusa, standing next to her own daughter from the future. "In turns out you're going to be Sailor Moon yourself."  
"What?!" Rei and Makoto shouted together.  
"Sailor Moon?" Setsuna asked.  
 ** _"WHAT?!"_** Chibiusa was stunned rigid. Ever since she joined the scouts Chibiusa dreamed of growing up to be one of the Sailor Scouts, she often argued with Usagi but she always looked up to the others like Ami and Michiru. By the time she was grown up the scouts had disbanded, but by then her dream had changed to become an artist. She followed her mother and the scouts to K.O. University and pursued a career in the visual arts where she met her teacher and long-time friend Yumemi Yumeno. Yumemi knew Usagi back when she modeled for Yumemi and subsequently saved her from the Dark Kingdom as Sailor Moon, since then Usagi kept in regular contact with Yumemi and even has two of her original works in her home. Despite herself Chibiusa always wanted to be a proper Sailor Scout deep inside, now her fondest wish for nearly 25 years has suddenly appeared to have come true - and to be Sailor Moon to boot. "Luna." Chibiusa turned to Luna "Is this true?"  
Luna nodded "Yes Chibi."  
"Oh my." Chibiusa uttered. Usagi handed her the Crystal Star and Chibiusa hesitantly reached out for it. Chibiusa looked around to find all the women watching her and Usagi. It was almost a rite of passage, mother passing the flame to her daughter. Chibiusa pinned the locket onto her plain red t-shirt and the locket was still blinking.  
"Does it work?" Makoto asked.  
Everyone turned to Luna, expecting a simple answer. "Um, I'm not sure. I don't see a reason why not." Luna turned to Chibiusa again. "Say Moon Crystal Power, Make Up."  
Chibiusa looked for an open space away from everyone, she walked just behind the couch into the entrance hall and, with everyone watching and waiting, Chibiusa shouted **_"MOON CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE UP!"_**

The Crystal Star started to pulse faster and faster until it erupted into a burst of pink light. In a flurry ribbons of pink light burst forth from the Crystal Star, enveloping Chibiusa's torso. The sensation was electric. Chibiusa felt the light passing over her body and transforming into her uniform. The Crystal Star sent forth more ribbons, they wrapped around her hands and forearms to form her gloves, and then even more ribbons of light wrapped around her feet and legs to form her boots. In all the noise and light Chibiusa distinctly felt a sense of warmth, the light was radiating heat all over her body. Her skirt formed around her hips, and the final transformation took place - Chibiusa's forehead shone a bright white heart shape which in fact changed into a crescent moon shape before transforming into her tiara. At the end of the transformation Chibiusa struck her old pose - mimicking her mother, her right hand over her head and her left on her hip. Her new uniform was mostly identical to that of her old one; large pink boots up to her knees with a golden crescent at the top of each one, a hot pink skirt with a red back-bow, a pure white leotard and gloves each with a pink collar and trim, a bright red bow in front of her chest secured by the Crystal Star, a red choker with a golden crescent, a golden tiara with a red ruby in the centre, and lastly like her mother and herself previously a bright red circular accent piece was present at the front of each elongated bun.  
Everyone was astounded but none more so than Usagi, she was crying tears of joy at the sight of her daughter as Sailor Moon. "Wow." Usagi said "You look incredible Chibi."  
Chibiusa looked around as she tried to work out her appearance. "Wow. I really do look like a real Sailor Scout."

One by one all the women went up to hug her, Usagi first then Luna and then the rest of them, each of them congratulating Chibiusa. That is everyone except Rei, she was still very excited for Chibiusa but knowing now that Usagi wanted her to see her daughter brought a lump to her throat. Her past was too painful to bear, she wanted to see her kid daughter but she wanted to stay the hell away from Yuuichirou and not even the idea of her being a Sailor Scout would be enough to make her go.  
Maybe.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - the Complexities of Love

Later that night Usagi was pacing around in the bedroom, Mamoru was in bed reading a book while she was on the phone trying to convince Rei to join her on her trip. "Come on Rei. We need you to come with us." In between the pauses in conversation Mamoru occasionally looked up at Usagi, trying to work out why she's going through all the bother. "Because she's your daughter Rei. We need to find her and see if she is a Sailor Scout." _Usagi's right-_ , Mamoru thought to himself, _but Rei won't go. She hasn't gotten over her pain yet._ "I know. I know." Usagi sighed as she scratched her forehead, thinking of a new plan of attack. "Look Rei you don't have to see him, we're just looking for Natsu now, that's all. Don't you want to see her?" _Of course she does Usagi, but she just can't bear to be so close to Yuuichirou, not after what he did to her._ "Okay fine, how about this; you don't have to come with us to Sydney, but we are going to go to Melbourne afterwards to find Michiru. How about instead of coming to Sydney, _we_ will find Natsu and bring her with us to Melbourne and then you can see her with us there and not in Sydney. You don't have to be there." _Wow, if she agrees to that that would be miraculous._ "Of course we will Rei." Usagi began to smile. _Huh, I wonder what that is._ All of a sudden Usagi jumped in excitement "Oh wow really? Thank you Rei. I promise you won't regret this." Mamoru stopped reading, looking up at Usagi in almost disbelief. _Really?! You pulled it off?_ "Goodnight Rei, we'll see you soon." Usagi sighed as she dialled off on her smartphone. She turned to Mamoru, still staring at her. "What?"  
"Did you actually get Rei to come to Australia with us?"  
Usagi sighed again "Sort of. She'll go to Melbourne directly but won't set foot in Sydney."

Usagi walked over to her side of the bed, putting her phone on her bedside chest of draws and climbing into bed. Mamoru continued to stare at her, still unable to fully comprehend. "But how? Rei has always hated going to Australia for years, ever since her troubles with Yuuichirou she wouldn't even consider going there."  
"I guess it was more of a Yuuichirou thing rather than an Australia thing."  
"That's my point." Mamoru shrugged "Even the thought of Natsu wasn't ever enough to return."  
Usagi shrugged back at him "What can I say? Maybe she is finally getting over her anger."  
"It's not just anger she needs to get over Usagi." Mamoru shook his head "It's her hatred. She hates Yuuichirou and anything to do with Yuuichirou. That includes Australia, that includes Natsu-" Mamoru sighed deeply "That includes herself."  
Usagi just stared back at Mamoru. "Herself?"  
"Yes. Haven't you noticed her self-loathing? She hates herself for ever having met him all those years ago."  
"Hang on." Uasgi interrupted "You're not a psychologist. How do you know all this?"  
"It's not that hard Usagi. You know I visit her shrine every month right?" Usagi nodded. "Well of course I catch up with her and the shrine. She puts on a brave face but I can tell that she's struggling every day." Usagi paused for a moment; she remembers her conversation with Rei earlier;

 _"Yeah. It's been a busy month." -_

 _"Well the help is getting us by. I have a new guy sweeping down the grounds, but with me, him and two others it's still a big job to keep it tidy and to keep it going." -_

 _"Thanks Usagi, but I'll be fine." -_

 _"Yeah, thanks Usagi. You know I kinda wish for the good old days. You know, when smartphones didn't ruin a lot of socialization. I actually think the iPhones and all that helped to reduce the number of visitors we used to get." -_

Usagi remembers talking to Rei but now she remembers the look in her eyes - they seem darker, like the passion inside her had gone. "Huh. I don't know why I never noticed."  
"I'm surprised too. Usually you're the one who notices things like that before I do." Mamoru went back to his reading but Usagi continued to stare for another second. Usagi is usually so in tune with everyone's mood and personality, but it seems she has neglected her relationship with Rei - and that is very unusual given that she visits her occasionally at the shrine. As a famous author working at home Usagi spends most of her time either typing on her laptop or visiting her friends in Tokyo. Every year she and Mamoru travel, Usagi has been to many places in Europe and Asia and has been to the US and Australia - often as a speaker for events, she has featured in two TEDtalks.

"I guess I haven't seen that much of Rei recently." Usagi lamented. "I'll visit her when we go to Downtown."  
Mamoru nodded "I'll come with you."  
"Great." Usagi began to unclip her buns and let her hair down. "Maybe I can talk to her about Yuuichirou and try to get them to reconcile."  
"Wait what?!" Mamoru snapped back at Usagi "You want them to reconcile?"  
"Well yeah. They were such good friends and I tho-"  
"Until he cheated on her," Mamoru interjected "With a fan no less, and then when she caught him and called him out on it he struck her." Usagi couldn't keep going; she simply had nothing left to say. "You know, I get now why she's been upset this long. Yuuichirou let Rei chase him and his dreams in Sydney, marry him and father her child for a few years, and help him to become a successful musician, only to let the fame go to his head and sleep with someone else, and then divorce after hitting Rei and throwing her out of the house they lived in." Mamoru shook his head "If I were Rei I'd be furious too."  
Usagi sighed "Yeah, you're right." She looked down, feeling stupid and ashamed for even thinking about the idea. "But I think I can help." Mamoru looked back at her not really knowing what to expect next. "Yeah, I get that he betrayed her and I'd be pretty upset too if y-"  
"Just upset?" Mamoru interrupted, breaking Usagi's train of thought a second time. "You would only be upset if I did that? You wouldn't get mad if I slept with," He took a second to think of a person. "Rei? She used to have a crush on me years ago, you wouldn't be furious if I did that to you?"  
Usagi kept staring at him the whole time. "Yes I would."  
"There you go." Mamoru gestured his hand to emphasize his point before again returning to his book.  
"But I wouldn't be like that for long." Usagi continued. Mamoru payed attention as he read on. "Yes, I would hate you a lot, and I would hate Rei even more if I'm honest. But I think that over time I would forgive both of you. I mean it will hurt for months, maybe years, but I believe in true love and if I see that in you and Rei then I would eventually get over my anger and hatred. I'd start remembering all the good times we did have, you and Rei both, and I'd be friends with you two again in time."  
As she spoke Mamoru stopped reading, Usagi's words affected him more deeply than he thought. _Wow! Such capacity for love. She could actually forgive the person who would cheat on her, and the other woman. Is that even possible?_ Usagi didn't see it but a single tear fell down Mamoru's cheek, his heart so full of warmth that he wept. He marked off his book, set it down on his bedside chest and reached out to Usagi, pulling her next to him, their eyes looking into each other. "You know Usako, there are many reasons why I love you so much; you're thoughtful, kind, confident," Mamoro chuckled a little "Very attractive." Usagi giggled with him. "But the thing I love about you most of all is your heart. You have this incredible ability to see the good in everything, even in the very worst of life." After a brief pause Mamoru kissed Usagi passionately, they held each other as they expressed their love.  
Inflamed by his passion Usagi pulled back, wanting to speak. "Wait." Her heart pounding with adrenaline she was visibly trembling. "You haven't called me Usako in a while."  
Mamoru laughed "That's what you wanted to say?"  
"No I mea-" Before she could finish her thought Mamoru lent in to kiss her again with even more passion. In the heat of the moment Usagi, overpowering Mamoru, rolled on top of him. She once again let go of his lips and the two panted for a second, the couple were about to make love.  
"Are you sure?" Mamoru asked. Still panting Usagi nodded and began to unbutton his flannelette top. He then began to unbutton her pyjama top and the two continued to kiss, shifting in their bed.

As the two were preparing for a night of passionate love a slither of moonlight crept though the gap in the certain. The light shone over a piece of paper with eight names written;  
TOKYO  
CHŌFU  
SYDNEY  
MELBOURNE  
LOS ANGELES  
LYONS  
BERLIN  
LONDON  
These were the locations where Usagi had to go, to find the new Sailor Scouts.  
Or at least that's all she thought she needed to go.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 - the Council

Within a metropolis full of crystalline buildings a massive structure towers over all of them. Three massive crystals protrude from the ground, the middle crystal the tallest of the three and the others flank the middle at angles to its centre. As the sun passed behind the transparent structures the light of the sun could only be seen through the edges of the crystal giving off an eerie purple outline to the light blue structure. This was the capital building, the centre of the bureaucracy and the imperial empire that is the Negaverse. As far as the citizens and the scores of millions of slaves were concerned it was the centre of the universe itself. The location of the capital building was deliberate, the affect the sun gave it has its roots in the establishment of the empire thousands of years ago as an omen of the continual and unlimited prosperity of the empire - every day the sun would set behind the capital building and give the building its unusual glow. In this current cycle General Tsajei would be addressing the Council a second time this interval.

Inside the Council Chambers the room was similar in appearance to the General's office; very straight, very slick and polished, however while the walls of the room were crystalline the bench the five council members sat behind was not, it was a mineral that could be misconstrued as a black granite. The five council members arrived, lining up as each one took to their seats. They were all in dark robes, black cloth with no detail at all. The head at the center of the bench then announced "Alright, before we begin today's proceedings we must check the attendance of the Council. Councilman Geoa?"  
The man at the far left of the bench called out "Present."  
"Councilman Rhapan?"  
The man seated next to Geoa was next "Here."  
"Councillady Ua'qio?"  
The only woman, seated beside the head replied "Here."  
"Councilman Takaos?"  
The final council member at the far right of the bench exclaimed "Here! Councilelder Ufano?"  
The head of the council responded "Present. All members of the Council are present." All the council members relaxed a moment before the Councilelder declared "Bring in Second Rank General Tsajei u'Daroha to the chamber."  
In the shadows General Tsajei entered into the dimly lit chamber, holding a piece of crystal. "Praise the Council." he said, greeting them with the traditional salute - his right arm extended with his hand open and upturned.  
"Praise." Ufano simply said and Tsajei lowered his arm. "General, during the previous cycle you provided the Council an outline to your plan to conquer the planet designated 2416-3 and requesting more time to complete it. Has this extra time allowed you to do so?"  
"To the best of my ability, yes."  
Ufano raised his eyebrow "To the best of your ability?"  
"I have greatly improved the finer details of my invasion strategy and used the invaluable information of our spy drone currently residing in the system now updating our information of the planet and its geopolitics. I am convinced that with the exception of one problem that still exists the success of our invasion is all but ensured."  
Ua'qio tilted her head upward slightly "The lofty superbeings known as the Sailor Scouts?"  
Tsajei smirked "Certainly not. That issue appears to have resolved itself. I refer to the toxic atmosphere of the planet." Tsajei tapped on his crystal and immediately a screen was lit up with an image of the planet Earth. "In the 25 revolutions since we first encountered the planet the atmosphere has changed slightly. The abundance of Carbon Dioxide in the air has indeed improved our lot and we have since then developed the technological and medical advancements to combat the Argon and Neon in the air, however we are no closer to actually setting foot onto the world as we still cannot combat the effects of Nitrogen Inhalation. Now there is a remedy to thi-"  
"No masks!" Councilman Takaos boomed.  
"Councilman I realize that it is uncommon to use-"  
"This has nothing to do tradition or doctrine General." Takaos continued "They are face masks. These are fragile things that can be ripped off your face and can lead to your death in an instant."  
"Councilman is right." Councilelder Ufano added "We must find a remedy that cannot be sabotaged so easily."  
Tsajei sighed "We are simply not there yet."  
"Then we are not there yet." Ua'qio replied. "We can afford you additional time if you choose to ask for it."  
"You are prepared to wait another 25 revolutions on the _chance_ that we might be able to breathe the atmosphere?"  
"The Council will wait as long as it needs to ensure a successful conquest." Ufano answered.  
Tsajei sighed a second time "Very well."

Ufano sighed himself "Let us proceed. Review your plan with us and all the amendments to your strategy."  
"Of course." Tsajei tapped his crystal again and the image of the planet blew up into a very large map. "My plan remains largely unchanged given that the political states of the planet have not unified in the time we have been absent. Therefore the same strategy of conquering un-unified planets applies here; attack and destroy the military, scientific and industrial powers and then attack all neighbouring states on all fronts until the resistance is destroyed." As he spoke images begun to emerge from the map; places such as Germany, America, and Japan appeared. This attack was going to be both global and total.  
"Interesting." Geoa uttered "Has your path been altered?"  
"Slightly, yes." Tsajei then began to move around in the space. "The current political state of this land-" he pointed to Australia "Is notably unstable, the populace is dissatisfied with the state of the politics and as a result the governing bodies have become more extreme and unstable. An attack against the political institutions will throw the governing bodies into turmoil and we will secure a scientific stronghold." Tsajei saw many of the council members nodding in agreement. "This land here-" he reached for Japan "Is another scientific land we must conquer, however the government is very stable and is technologically advanced compared to the rest of the world. Seeing as many other states are both allies and viable targets themselves I propose we attack this land last to ensure that it does not receive any help."  
"Agreed." Councilman Takaos nodded.  
Tsajei walked over to just under Europe and pointed to it "This is a perfect cluster of states to attack here. Due to the history of most, if not all of these states we can finely tune our attack to whichever we decide to attack."  
"Elaborate." Rhapan demanded.  
"Well I can't be very specific right now, but many of the northern, central and western states are either industrious or scientific institutions and thus, while the aim is to take over all of them immediately, we can choose whichever starting points we believe is best and use political hostilities as a trigger to spark violent behaviour. The political landscape of this section of land in particular holds in its history a vast quantity of resentment and buried hatred, all of which can stir the violent nature of these Earthlings and compel them to destroy each other. Our meddling will cause a trickle effect where just one action can cause a major military conflict in this land, which in turn weakens the strength and the will of the entire land, ready for us to take."  
"Genius." Rhapan replied.  
"Thank you Councilman." Tsajei then walked to the other end of the map "But the jewel in the crown is this land." He pointed at the United States "This is the simplest of all the campaigns. This is a state that in effect is in a constant state of flux, they hold the ideals of freedom so highly that they often conflict with each other, and with the nature of the Earthlings to be violent the state is constantly on the brink of self-destruction."  
"How do you intend to take over such a volatile land?" Councillady Ua'qio asked.  
"The beauty of this plan is its elegance." Tsajei paused for a moment. "I intend to do absolutely nothing."  
"Nothing?" Ufano inquired.  
"Nothing." Tsajei smirked "This land is currently led by an ego-maniacal leader with no interest in committing to any long term strategy for the betterment of his people. The populace has become discontent with his rambling utterances and self-interested motivations and are protesting to eject him. Add to this the freedoms of the land allow for the procurement of military weapons of which thousands of recorded instances of death by man have appeared." Tsajei paused for another moment "I understand that a person there is killed in this manner every eleven twelfths of a cycle."  
"Good grief!" Takaos exclaimed. "How is this state capable of functioning? At all?"  
"That is a question I do not have an answer for. Suffice it to say the basic good nature and intelligence of the Earthlings, of which there is much in this inferior race, somehow manages to counteract this." Tsajei sighed "In any event the plan is to simply let the state become unstable, then simply exacerbate it to its extremity."  
"Simple." Councilelder Ufano slightly shook his head, he simply could not conceive of a plan more basic and yet more elegant.

"There is one final matter General." Ua'qio said. "You mentioned that the superbeing problem has been resolved. How so?"  
"Councillady the matter is resolved for one reason." Tsajei paused to take a moment and tap his crystal a third time, the image of the earth transformed into the images of Sailor Moon and all of the Inner Senshi. "The superbeings no longer protect the planet."  
The council members murmured for a while. "Can you be certain of this?" Councilman Rhapan asked.  
"Yes. Our drone has recounted the information of the past 25 revolutions and it has been known that the superbeings have dissolved some 15 revolutions ago. They still exist and while the possibility does exist that they still pose a grave threat to the invasion they have since dispersed and are no longer physically capable of defending against us."  
"But you concede the possibility of failure does exist." Ufano pointed out.  
Tsajei took a deep breath and sighed "Yes, that possibility does exist. However the assumption of chaos falls within the probability of victory. Additionally, while we cannot match their overwhelming power even now we can at least give ourselves a fighting chance to defend ourselves from the attack."  
"Chance?" Takaos was getting angry. " **Chance?!** You want us to approve a battle plan based on **chance?!** "  
"Calm down Councilman." Ufano interjected "Give the General his dues." Councilman Takaos struck the Councilelder a sinister look before folding his arms and turning back to Tsajei. "I'm afraid Councilman Takaos is right to raise this point. You cannot expect us to allow a plan with a variable as dangerous as this."  
"I expect you to consider such things rationally Councilelder." Tsajei tried to curry favour in the Council. "I can never guarantee that the superbeings will not be a threat, which is why that plan requires these five to be destroyed at all cost, however doing so is now at least achievable. We can defend against their attacks now, and in doing so can inflict a counterattack. The key is implementing the exact attack at the exact time."  
"Is the Purple Serpent that skilled?" Ufano asked.  
"Indeed we are." A moment of silence descended over the chamber. The council members deliberated amongst each other. General Tsajei felt the tension in the air, his breathing became slightly heavier.  
The council members finally reached a decision. "The Council has decided to approve your plan under a condition." Councilelder Ufano declared. "We have our most intelligent scientists and doctors working on counteracting the effects of Nitrogen Inhalation, they report that they are very close to achieving this goal. We will not launch your plan until we have an effective and foolproof measure of providing immunity to your men."  
"I see." Tsajei raised his head; all of a sudden their cautious demeanour makes sense.  
"We will reconvene with you, Second Rank General Tsajei u'Daroha, at the earliest possible moment when Nitrogen Inhalation has been counteracted." Councilelder Ufano gestured to the General for him to leave. The General gave one final salute before about-turning and exited the chamber.

Meanwhile, in another crystal building not far from the capital building, a male alien was in an almost empty room. Nothing was there except him and what appeared to be a mirror. Then a voice was heard over a speaker somewhere in the room, it was an alien dialect, almost indescribable in its sound. After just a second gas was heard hissing through vents in the room, the alien looked around to find where they were, he couldn't find anything. No crack, no vent, no visible fissure in what was an airtight, featureless space. The alien was starting to panic, after all Nitrogen gas is lethal to him too. The alien started to hyperventilate, trying desperately to take all of the available, breathable air left. After a few seconds the alien began lose to his balance and sputter, the sound of what could be considered as coughing. What was unmistakable was the next sound, rasping. The alien could not breath, his body unable to metabolize the gas. A minute passed and the alien was on the brink of death, slumped over and crawling on the ground he reached at the mirror, wheezing, desperately calling out for air. He took his last breath and fell, his body still reaching for the mirror.


	7. Chapter 6

This chapter features music in the prose, when you reach a link please right click on it to open a new tab and let the music play as you read.

* * *

Chapter 6 - Timelines: Makoto

18 years ago

Makoto was leaving K.O. University for the last time. She just finished her three year degree in Economics, a subject she chose for two reasons; because a) there were no classes for professional cooking and b) aspiring to own a restaurant in Tokyo she felt at the time it was a good idea to learn the subject. She stuck it out the full three years but she felt it was a waste of time. "Phew!" Makoto sighed, stepping out of the gates with her backpack hanging off her left shoulder. "I'm glad that's over." She immediately knelt down and dropped her backpack to open it, digging around she eventually pulled out her CD player, loaded with her favourite music. She switched it on and quickly pressed the Skip button, she loves to walk home listening to Gorillaz, but finishing university for good - today was a great day. "Aha!" Makoto selected track 17 and quickly put the headphones on. The track was 19-2000 (Soulchid Remix). The beat was fast but not quick, the rhythm up-tempo but not jaunty, perfect music for a brisk walk on a sunny Tokyo day. As the music began to start Makoto zipped up her bag and began to walk home. Occasionally when the lyric appeared Makoto would sing along with it in the best English she could. "Ge dakuu, ge dakuu shoshain. Ge dakuu, ge dakuu shoshain."

However this time on the way home Makoto past a person handing out flyers. She nearly past right by him but the man stuck out a sheet in her face and she nearly walking into it. "Would you like to join today miss?" he said.  
"Hey, watch it!" Makoto snapped back at him. Frightened the man ran off, leaving a single piece of paper as he did. After regaining her composure Makoto saw the paper and picked it up to find out what the deal was. Reading it her eyes widened, it's as if lightning struck her body. She immediately began to run in the opposite direction trying to find this place. After about a few minutes of searching around blocks and up streets she found it; Juuban Culinary School. "YES!" Makoto shouted, she found a professional place to learn how to be a chef. University took up most of her time that she never really checked beforehand. She entered the building with the full intention to become a chef.

11 months later

After nearly a year of basic training and hard work the time had come for Makoto to graduate. The test was simple enough, create a dish - any dish - perfectly, and without fault. It was no mean feat; never mind the sheer array of cuisines and dishes, cooking anything perfectly is very hard to do. Makoto decided to make a simple makimono dish, various sushis rolls. She just finished the last roll and carefully placed it on the plate, it was a collection of seven different makizushis - different meats in all of them, some wrapped in seaweed, others in perilla leaves, and one in an omelette. The dish was handed to the teacher; he examined the plate, observing the sushi and its appearance. Makoto just stood there sweating through her collar, it was not polite to leave or disrespect the head chef. After a moment the chef then began his meal, eating one roll, chewing and tasting it entirely, then eating another, chewing and tasting, chewing and tasting, chewing and tasting. He was taking such a long time she thought, does he have to be this thorough? A minute passes and the chef finally eats the last roll, chewing and tasting one last time. There was a brief pause; Makoto didn't really know what to do as the chef waited for some time to pass. "Kino." He finally spoke. Like a startled animal she was spooked by his sudden outburst. The head chef stood up from his desk and bowed to her. "You have graduated, Chef Kino."  
"Yes!" Overcome with excitement Makoto jumped, she needed to release some of her energy. "Thank you Head Chef." She approached him and bowed to show her gratitude, the head chef then shook her hand and handed her a certificate. She was now a qualified chef and was ready to begin her career.

* * *

15 years ago

Working in a sushi bar was very hard for Makoto at the start. Straight out of culinary school Makoto went for every sushi bar she could find all across Tokyo to find a job, it wasn't long before a little no-name restaurant hired her and now, after a little less than a year she built a bit of a reputation as a very talented chef, albeit a little bit eccentric. She wasn't wild in her creativity or her technique; it's just that for some reason, every time she prepared the ingredients or cut the rolls she would do a dance. She would sway her hips to a beat, season food to a rhythm and cut and slice at the downbeat of whichever song that happens to be in her head at the time.  
"Itsu dea!"  
Very very occasionally uttering a lyric or two, apparently the music helped her to focus on the task at hand. All the other chefs, including the head chef, were amazed by this strange behaviour. Despite the small kitchen Makoto seemed to have enough space for the freedom to move about. The head chef came up to have as she was preparing a new roll. "Kino."  
Her trance broken Makoto snapped back into a more professional attitude. "Yes Chef."  
"You've received compliments from your last futomaki."  
"Oh wow. Thank you Chef."  
"Keep up the good work." The head chef walked back but turned around again. "And please mind your step."  
"Yes Chef. Thank you Chef." Makoto went straight back to her dance.

Behind the bench Usagi, Mamoru and most of the other girls were seated in two tables, sharing each other's sushi. "I hope Mako got my compliments." Usagi said. "She makes some great sushi."  
"She really does." Mamoru replied.  
"Can you believe it?" Haruka projected from the other table. "Mako is a whiz in the kitchen. Now it's been proven by professionals."  
Michiru poked Haruka in her side. "Don't be mean." Haruka laughed.  
"How are you feeling Luna?" Minako asked. Luna had only just been a human for a week; apart from the experience of being a human she experienced sushi for the very first time.  
"Sushi." Luna uttered, observing the roll with her chopsticks. "It's such a unique food."  
Usagi chuckled for a moment. "You know you have to eat it right?"  
"Well of course Usagi!" Luna snapped back at her. She quickly popped the roll in her mouth and ate it, just as quickly she tasted the unique flavours and shuddered at the experience. "Oh wow. I can really taste the vinegar and the fish."  
"You can taste the vinegar?" Minako asked.  
"Yeah. It's so sharp."  
"I guess she's just not used to the taste of vinegar yet." Setsuna shouted from the other table.  
"Yeah maybe." Usagi responded.

 _"It's Dare, oh"..._

 _...Time passes_

6 months later

The head chef had left the sushi bar and thus the restaurant was closed while it looked to promote one of the remaining chefs to head chef. Everyone had the chance to create a dish by themselves for the owners as an example of their talent. Everyone was nervous, wanting the chance to become head chef, but Makoto was more so than the others - she has only been a chef for three years, now she has the chance to actually lead a kitchen. Eventually it was Makoto's turn in the kitchen and most of the chefs were especially scared now, just about all of them thought she would take the title. Once she entered the kitchen the first thing she did was reach into her pocket, she pulled out an iPod with portable speakers connected to it. It was pretty obvious what she was going to do next, it was just as obvious that playing music in the kitchen had developed into a habit of hers. As the music wound up and prepared to start so too did Makoto feel the energy in the kitchen crescendo up to the point. "Itsu dea." she sang, and in the very instant the song began she started her dish.  
Watching from behind the bench the owner saw her in action, showing nothing on his face but felt mesmerized in the way she moved as she cooked. He was just far enough away to not be heard by Makoto or the others, so he felt the desire to vocalize his thoughts. "Impressive." He continued to watch as she prepared the ingredients. "Her movement is almost fluid." She was making Usuyaki-tamago for the wrapping of her sushi. "No, she _is_ fluid." It would be a Karei Fukusazushi, a rather complex sushi with flatfish. Makoto was indeed displaying her talent; cooking the omelette, slicing the fish, preparing the condiments, all to the beat of Dare.

Finally, after preparing the ingredients, moulding the omelette and filling the sushi Makoto plated up. Six pieces of Karei Fukusazushi wrapped in Usuyaki-tamago on a simple black plate was served to the owner on his table. He began to eat Makoto's offering. She couldn't read his face; she had no idea if it was good or bad. The tension was thick and she was sweating from the stress. After the final roll was eaten the owner took a moment to assess his meal. This is it, she thought as she gulped. The owner stood up and smiled. "I don't know how you did it but you made one of th-" He made a mistake. "No. _The_ best Fukusazushi I've ever had. And with a home-made omelette skin, I'm very impressed." He presented his hand. "Congratulations Head Chef Kino."  
Makoto's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "Seriously?" The owner simply nodded and with great force Makoto shook hands with the owner. The rest of the chefs applauded Makoto and her effort. She can't believe it, from an amateur cook Makoto Kino became the head chef of Chottoshita Sushi - Little Bit of Sushi.

* * *

At the same time Makoto began a relationship with Ittou Asanuma, a mutual friend of Mamoru. They first met just before she was hired at Chottoshita Sushi and quickly became good friends; however it was at this time that their friendship developed into a love for each other. During her off hours Makoto would spend time with him in Azabu Garden, a modest square of green deep in Tokyo. Surrounded by evergreens and Sakura the garden features ornate flowerbeds lining walkways in and out of the grounds, a pond for ducks and other aquatic birds to glide over the water, and benches for people to relax and take in the serenity of the garden. Today the two were again visiting the garden, the second time this week. The sun was setting over the backdrop, the golden light shinning over the pond and blazing through the gaps of the trees. "It's so beautiful." Awestruck, Makoto was taken aback at the sight.  
"It's amazing." Ittou replied. "Even the sky has turned golden." He took a moment to ponder. "I wonder why it does."  
"Mm?" Makoto looked at him.  
"Why does the sky change its colour?"  
Makoto let out a single "Ha. I know a friend who could answer that, but she's in Germany now." She turned back to the sun.  
"I think its jealousy."  
Makoto looked back at Ittou again. "Huh?"  
"I think the sky is jealous of the sun." He turned to Makoto to see the light reflect from her eyes and her earrings, the sight was almost divine. "You see, there's a legend that says the sky god and the sun god lived in the heavens to shine over the mortals. The sky god provides the world with colour and the sun god provides the world with light."  
"Okay." It was all Makoto could think to say.  
"The sky was always blue, no matter what the time was, and the sun was always in the sky, no matter where he went the sun never set. One day the sky god became jealous of the sun god and his light, so he decided to kill him."  
Makoto gasped "That's awful!"  
"It is." Ittou nodded "But that's not what happened, you see the gods are immortal and they can't be killed. He sent the sun all the way to the west where he tried to steal his light. The sky god succeeded and for a few minutes in the day the sky was golden, but the sun god discovered his light was taken and confronted the sky god to get it back."  
"Did he?" Makoto asked.  
"No. The gods attacked each other and the sky god stabbed the sun, turning the sky blood red, and the sun god fell onto the Earth." Makoto gasped again, covering her mouth, her eyes even began to well. "Don't worry, the story isn't over yet. You see even though the sun had fallen to Earth his spirit rose in the east - the Moon Goddess - searching for his body. The Ki-"  
"Wait." Makoto interrupted. "The sun is a god, but his spirit is a goddess?"  
Ittou laughed "Yeah, I don't really know why." The sky had changed its colour to a bright red. "Anyway, the King of the Gods banished the sky god from heaven for his crime, until the sun god would rise again. This made the sky pitch black, but all the gods and goddesses placed markers all across heaven - the stars - to show the spirit where to find him. She searched all across heaven until she saw him lying on the ground on Earth; she descended to his body and wept, despairing over her loss. She kissed him and her breath revived the sun god. The sun was reborn in the east and in so doing the sky god returned to heaven; and that's reason the sun and the sky change during the day and night." The couple looked deeply into each other; Ittou glowing the sun's light, his blonde hair waving about in the wind, his blue eyes glistening the golden light, Makoto shrouded in shadow, only her outlines shone light, her ponytail dancing in the wind. She lent in to kiss him and as the sun continued to set the couple's love had blossomed.

For months the couple were inseparable, they went everywhere together; the cinema, the mall, the garden, the arcade even, and to many restaurants for romantic dinners. Their love for each other grew fonder with each passing day, and at night they expressed their passion to each other through the intimacy of making love. They would often sleep with each other whenever the mood passed and sleep next to each other until the new sun had risen. It therefore didn't take long before eventually Ittou decided to take Makoto to the fanciest French restaurant they ever been to. This was different; it wasn't a typical eatery they usually go to. The building was exquisitely decorated; polished round tables covered in satin white cloth, crystal goblets and the finest china and silverware, chandeliers lighting the magnificent ceiling and ornate paintings all around the space. This is what a real, proper restaurant was; an experience of sight and sound as well as taste. And the experience was tortuously expensive, tens - maybe hundreds of thousands of yen, but it was all worth it for Ittou. Ittou finished his meal and drank the last of his champagne, waiting for Makoto to finish her meal; he rehearsed this about a million times in his head, just waiting for the right time. Makoto finished drinking the last of her soup. "Wow. I've never had such divine food before."  
"Yes. It's Haute cuisine; it's a very meticulous type of French cuisine."  
"I thought so. I learned a little bit about it in culinary school."  
This is it, he thought. Ittou got up from his seat and walked over to Makoto, holding her hand. "Mako. When we first met you were such a good friend to me. I never really thought I would fall in love with you back then, but a part of me deep inside did, and as we kept hanging out I realized I became more and more attracted to you. Then the day we went to the gardens and kissed for the first time, I knew we were meant to be together." Staring into her eyes Ittou saw Makoto's shock and happiness, her eyes welled with tears and reflected the light of the chandeliers and the candles. "So Mako." Ittou knelt down on bent knee "Would you do me the great honour of becoming my wife and spending your life with me?"  
Makoto was speechless; she knew she was being taken out on a special date, she even assumed he might propose to her, but even with all this in her mind she was still unable to process just what was happening, and in an instant a flood of emotions hit her with great force. "Oh my god." Makoto was on the threshold completely losing her composure. "Yes! Absolutely!" She immediately got up from her seat and knelt down to his level, kissing him passionately. Neighbouring tables applauded at the couple's nuptials and it was the perfect end to a perfect night, head chef of a restaurant _and_ a proposal on the same night. No one could have planned that better.

4 months later

The wedding was beautiful. It was held at the Juuban Church on a sunny Friday. Surrounded by her friends and his family the couple wed in the modest church. In a strange irony Usagi was the Maid of Honour and Mamoru was the Best Man, a married couple honouring a newly married couple. It was a simple ceremony, a small gathering of friends of family. The reception was just as beautiful, catered by Chottoshita Sushi the reception was at Azabu Garden, again the sun had set over the couple and again they kissed as the golden light shone over the gardens. As day turned to night the reception finished and everyone said their goodbyes, and Makoto and Ittou entered a limousine taking them to Ittou's home.  
That was one month ago.  
Today Makoto was locked in the bathroom at her apartment, she'd fallen ill and had to take the week off to recover, or at least so she thought. Ittou was in her kitchen, preparing a simple breakfast. He was concerned Makoto had developed a serious illness, Makoto knew better. The sound of her retching twisted his stomach into knots, he nearly convulsed himself. Then the sound of the toilet flushing indicated the end, Ittou sighed in relief. Slowly Makoto came out of the bathroom and as soon as he saw her Ittou got up to help her into her seat at the table. "Felling any better?"  
"Yeah, I'll be okay for now." With his wife seated Ittou continued to prepare breakfast. Makoto smelled the food. "French Toast?"  
"Yeah, I thought you'd like something different today."  
"I'm not sure that's such a good idea."  
Ittou looked back at her. "Why's that?"  
"I just now took a test before I vomited." Makoto spoke with a frail tone but a smile began to creep around her face. "I'm pregnant."  
Ittou stopped checking on the bread soaking in the milk. "You're pregnant?"  
Makoto nodded "I'd like to check with a doctor, but my pregnancy test says I am."  
He stopped what he was doing and ran back to Makoto. "You're kidding!"  
Ittou came to embrace her tightly. "I'm not. Actually maybe you shouldn't hold on so tightly."  
"Sorry Mako." The couple swayed to each other's rhythm. "I'm just so excited. I never thought we'd have a kid so soon."  
"Yeah I know. You want to know something else?"  
"What?"  
"The bread's in fire." Makoto points to the French Toast on the stove, the bread was now smoking in the frying pan and excess milk was bubbling furiously around it.  
"Shit!" Ittou ran back to the stove and Makoto couldn't help but laugh as her husband was fanning the smoke and desperately tried to save breakfast.  
"This is why I'm the cook here!" Makoto beamed, her radiant glow was now more noticeable. She stood up "I'm going to call the doctor, you can clean up and let me make breakfast this time."  
"Yeah yeah." Ittou didn't appreciate the taunt, but it didn't matter anymore. Now with a baby on the way he knew he had to start taking a lot of care for Makoto, especially the first few months.

Nari Asanuma was born in Azabu Public Hospital on Thursday, 13th of February, 2003

* * *

9 years ago

Waiting outside Gate 26 in Narita Airport Makoto was with Usagi, seated at the guest lounge. Usagi rested a sheet of paper on her lap which simply read 'Rei' in permanent marker while Makoto was reading a book. It was Usagi's autobiography; 'In the Name of the Moon: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon'. "Is the plane still sitting on the runway?" Makoto asked.  
"No, it's just about here." Usagi turned to Makoto "How's the book Mako?"  
"It's really good. Did you really write this yourself?"  
"Well I got some help from my publicist, he found someone who gave me some great advise on writing, but everything there is all me."  
Makoto nodded, approving of her friend's work. "I'm impressed. I also like how you use our senshi names and don't reveal anyone else."  
"Yeah, I know some of us are pretty sensitive about privacy so I thought it would be better."  
Makoto continued to nod. "Great idea." She turned to Usagi "But one thing I don't understand is why you decided to reveal yourself and Mamoru in the first place."  
Usagi sighed "Well I started to see the world kinda go backwards, to be honest not long after Nari was born." Makoto nodded "It was getting so desperate that I felt like I needed to remind the world that there is at least one person out there whose at least trying to make the world a bit less-" Usagi took a moment to find the right word. "Maddening." She turned to Makoto. "So I decided to ring a few news stations and told them I'd make a very important announcement that they needed to broadcast. At first they were a bit sceptical, but I promised them I'd give them real news. When they arrived I brought Mamo and Chibi with me and-" Usagi took a deep breath and sighed, looking back out to the gate. "Told them I was Sailor Moon." Makoto continued to stare at Usagi, understanding what it meant to be Sailor Moon for just one moment. "Call me impulsive but I think the world benefited from knowing that Sailor Moon was just a teenage girl back then, and she kicked butt."  
Makoto chuckled "She definitely did!"  
Usagi laughed with her "I guess I should have thought the celebrity would get a little out of control, but honestly I don't mind it. I mean I'm a beacon of hope now, girls and women look up to me as a kind of ray of hope in an otherwise-" She starts to shake her head "Truly bleak world."  
Makoto slightly nodded again "Yeah." She then turned to the gate to see people walking out. "Oh hey. Can you see Rei?"  
"Oh!" Usagi quickly took the paper and waved it about. "Not yet." After a few moments of people streaming from the entrance Rei slowly emerged into the baggage carousels, visibly distressed and already crying. "Rei!" The two quickly got up and rushed over to her, drawing the attention of passersby. Rei saw them running to her and just dropped her bags, now almost unable to stand up. They both reached her just in time before she might have fallen onto the ground or into someone. "Are you okay? What happened?"  
"What's wrong Rei?"  
Supported by Usagi and Makoto Rei was barely able to remain upright. "I just need to go home." Rei sobbed.  
"Can you walk?" Makoto asked.  
"Yeah, I just need some help." Usagi and Makoto both picked up Rei's bags and held onto her sides as the group quickly exited the airport.

Driving back from the airport the three women were all headed to Hikawa Shrine. Makoto drove everyone in her silver NISSAN Pulsar, while Usagi kept Rei company in the back of the car. "He cheated on you?!" Usagi asked.  
Rei continued to cry, but at least now she was more composed and ready to unload. "Yes. Yuuichirou slept with some other woman and now we've split up." Rei cried into her hands, her voice muffled. "That rat bastard cheated on me and then-" Rei's voice broke "He struck me. He slapped me across my face."  
"He what?!" Usagi's jaw dropped, she knew Yuuichirou to be a generally decent guy, if a little self-centred, but she never once believed he was capable of this - actual violence.  
"Okay, now I'm angry." Makoto replied, pressing her foot hard on the accelerator.  
Usagi felt the sudden acceleration and turned to Makoto. "Hey Mako, slow down." She turned back to Rei, still crying into her hands. "Can I see?"  
"Why?!" Rei yelled.  
"Please Rei. I need to see it." After Rei finished sobbing she let go of her head and as the passing streetlights whizzed by revealed a large red bruise over most of her left cheek. The bruise was so large it amazed Usagi she missed it in the airport. "Oh my god! Should we go to the hospital?"  
"What?!" Makoto asked.  
"No, no. The swelling has gone down, just take me home." Rei cried.  
"He's dead! I'm gonna kill him!" Makoto could only see flashes of anger welling in her very soul as she pulled over into a side street just before the shrine. Quickly Makoto got out of the car and went around helping Rei out of the car. "Okay Usagi, push Rei towards me and I'll pull her out." She opened the door and reached in to grab Rei; Usagi lifted her and passed her over to Makoto. "I got you Rei, I got you." Makoto pulled Rei out of the car. Rei wasn't so injured to the point of disability, but she had no energy, no strength, no will, her spirit was completely broken, her passion vanished, her very soul was empty. "Okay Usagi, grab a hold of her." The two women continued to carry Rei up to the shrine and slowly up the steps, each step more laborious than the last, until they reached the nearest structure. "Just sit down here Rei. Usagi can you find Grandpa?"  
"Sure." Usagi ran out to find Grandpa Hino and alert him of the current events.  
Under the light of the lanterns Makoto kept Rei company. "Do you need anything right now?"  
Having cried for more than six hours Rei was exhausted. "I just need to sleep right now."  
"Are you sure? It's only 7 o-clock."  
"Yeah, I've been crying for so long I've used up all my energy." Rei slumped over into Makoto's lap, barely conscience now.  
"Hey, wake up Rei." Makoto lifted her head and gently slapped her cheeks to rouse Rei. "Come on Rei."  
"I'm okay Mako." Rei replied weakly.  
"No you're not." Makoto snapped back.  
Usagi and Grandpa Hino quickly made it back to the women, Grandpa carrying a tray of food for Rei. "Rei, you need to eat. Get your strength back up." Grandpa advised. He brought over biscuits and finger foods for Rei to eat one by one. "Usagi, Makoto I think you two can go, I'll nurse my Rei back to health from here."  
"I'm not leaving!" Usagi declared.  
Makoto however needed to go. "Are you going to be fine Rei?" She helped push Rei back up and sit upright.  
"Yeah, thank you Mako."  
Makoto got up "I'm sorry Rei but I do need to go, but I promise I'll be right back here as soon as I can." Makoto turned and quickly ran down the stairs and out of the shrine. She ran down to her car and entered it, but for a few moments she just sat there. All she could feel was a blinding rage against Yuuichirou, all she could hear was her own heavy, laboured breathing. In an instant she threw a punch straight at the steering wheel. **_"BASTARD!"_** she screamed. She too began to break down and cry, slumped over the wheel. This came at the worst possible time; three weeks ago Makoto bought a cafe in downtown Tokyo and decided to convert it into a restaurant, her own restaurant - her greatest dream was about to become a reality. But now with just a week left before opening she was in no mood to cook, never mind design a menu or hire staff. "Why am I thinking about this now?" She uttered "One of my best friends's just been beaten." She couldn't help it, whenever she gets inspiration to create a recipe it immediately takes over her thoughts. Makoto remembered the finger foods Grandpa Hino delivered to Rei and the fire in the lanterns. She had a stroke of inspiration in all the devastation. Makoto started her car and switched on the radio, of all the songs of all music to play Clint Eastwood starts up. "Huh, appropriate." As Makoto began to drive back home she sang along to the chorus.  
 _  
"I ain't happy, I'm feelin' glad. I got sunshine, in a bag. I'm useless, but not for long. The future, is comin' on."_  
"I eint happei, I'm feelin glad. I got sunshain, ina bag. Aim yusless, but not forlong. The fyutur, is kaming on." Makoto's English was improving.

Returning home Makoto immediately went straight to the kitchen and took a look at all the stock she had; plenty of fish, lots of rice, just enough seaweed and a full spice rack. Perfect! she thought, but before she started she had to feed Nari, it was 7:30 and she was very hungry. Makoto whipped up a quick spaghetti Bolognese for her daughter. "Nari, Mummy is going to be in the kitchen for a long time. Do you want to play on the computer?" Nari giggled and nodded. "Okay, finish your dinner and I'll help you play." Makoto cuddled Nari and left her to start her work. In the kitchen she began by testing out all the combinations of fish and spice; cutting thin slices of the meats a seasoning each with random spices, some were bad, most were okay or at least palatable, but a few of these combinations were great and she wrote them down on a paper beside her.  
Then she started to think about how she wanted to build her dish, flicking her pen around her hand, before Nari entered the room. "Mummy, I've finished."  
Makoto stared off into the night sky for a second. "Okay." She turned to her daughter. "I'll help you set it up." The two left the kitchen for just a moment. What was written on the paper were a circle with eight smaller circles inside it, and the words;  
Burning Mandala  
Spicy Makizushi, Eight Ways  
This was her dish; it wasn't just Modern Japanese cuisine, it was Makoto pouring her soul into dedicating Rei and her anguish.

the Next Day

Makoto was at the work site, the kitchen and the gas was being installed and most of the tables and seats for the patrons were placed and set. Makoto was with two of her new staff; the restaurateur who helped to secure the financial investment, and the maître d' for the eatery. Makoto brought along Tupperware full of her spicy sushi and a plate from home to present her new dish. The three were all seated at a table far away from the kitchen. "Do you have a name for this place yet?" the restaurateur asked.  
"I've thought about it since the last couple of days, I think Dansushefu is a good name."  
"Really?" the maître d' inquired "Dance Chef?"  
"No, the Dancing Chef. I used to be called that when I was working in Chottoshita Sushi, and to be honest I still kinda do that now. Even making my dish last night I danced, so it makes sense to me."  
"Interesting." the restaurateur nodded slightly "I like it, but I think Danshingu Shefu would make more sense don't you think?"  
Makoto thought about it for a moment and nodded "You know what? That is better."  
"Excellent!" the restaurateur clapped his hands and began to write down the name.  
The maître d' asked "You said you made a dish yesterday, do you have it here?"  
"Yes." Makoto pulled out her plate and the Tupperware container. "Since I'm making this place a Modern Japanese restaurant I made sushi with a twist." Laying the plate on the table she opened the container and placed each of the sushi rolls in a very specific order around the plate. "This is Moeru Mandara." Placing the last roll she removed the Tupperware. "Burning Mandala; Spicy Makizushi made eight ways. Each of the sushi rolls are made traditionally with traditional fishes and ingredients, however each of the pieces of fish or the sushi roll itself has been seasoned with a spice. Eight different fishes for eight different spices."  
"Intriguing." they both said. Then the restaurateur asked "But where are the chopsticks?"  
"There isn't any. It's finger food!"  
"Oh my!" the maître d' exclaimed.  
They all picked out a roll and began to eat when Makoto continued her description. "The starch in the rice dampens the burning sensation, but even so each piece is both a unique taste and varies in spiciness because of the presence of the spice."  
They both hiss, breathing in air to cool down their tongues, the restaurateur drinks his glass of water. "Chef Asanuma, this is truly inspired. How did you come up with the idea to add spice to sushi?" the maître d' asked.  
"Well I know a maiden who lives in a shrine in Tokyo, last night I went to her shrine and I just had a sudden wave of inspiration." Makoto decided to conceal the true nature of the dish, not with a lie but rather the omission of certain information.  
"Interesting." the restaurateur got up from his seat. "This here is a signature dish Asanuma. We'll add this to the menu immediately." He then offered his hand to Makoto "We're just about ready to open your restaurant."  
"Thank you." She shook his hand, and with this dish Makoto would begin a trend in her own life to continue to create new and unique flavours to traditional Japanese dishes. The Burning Mandala would become the dish she would be famous for.

* * *

5 years ago

It was a bright sunny day in Tokyo. Makoto took time off today, managing and cooking in her own restaurant was taking its toll on her body so she decided to take the week off and spend time with her daughter Nari. She was 9 years old and wanted to explore the city, how could she say no to that face? She decided to bring Usagi and Chibiusa along with them and spend the day visiting places around the city. Right now they were heading to Tokyo's Sea Life Park, ever since Nari began to start eating some of her mother's creations she began to take an interest in marine life and the sea in general. Makoto drove everyone down to aquarium "Are you excited about your first aquarium Nari?"  
"Oh yes, I want to see all the fishes and the turtles."  
"You can't pet anything there Nari. We'll just be walking around and looking at them."  
"Aawww." Nari pouted "That's okay."  
Usagi laughed "Don't worry Nari, it'll be fun. There are lots of different sea creatures. Do you know about the seahorse?"  
"Sea...horse?" Nari was confused.  
"Yeah, it's a horsey that can swim underwater and eats fish." Usagi giggled.  
"Oh wow!" Nari absolutely wanted to see that.  
Makoto pokes Usagi's side. "Don't confuse her."  
Chibiusa joined in the deception "Yeah, and you can ride on them and swim underwater with them."  
"Hey, stop it!" Makoto snapped at Chibiusa. "Don't be mean guys." Usagi and Chibiusa both laughed at each other and Nari who now fully anticipated the idea of riding a horse in the water.  
"Sorry Mako." Usagi said "But that was fun."  
"I wanna ride the sea-horse!" Nari beamed, bobbing in her seat.  
"Oh now you've done it." Makoto became increasingly upset.  
Chibiusa laughed some more "Aw, I'm sorry Nari but we were just joking around."  
"Aaawwwww!" Nari pouted some more as the car finally pulled into the carpark.  
"Wow, this place is full today." Makoto said, trying to find a space to park. "Must be a lot of families here." Eventually she found a space and drove into it. "Okay guys, we're here." They all got out of the car and began to walk towards the entrance.  
As they did another family came up to them. "Excuse me." the mother said to Usagi "But aren't you the Sailor Moon girl?"  
Usagi sighed "Yes, that's me."  
"Oh wow, thank you so much for saving us." the mother shook her hand.  
Usagi chuckled "You're welcome."  
"Enjoy your day!" the family walked past them and everyone else began to move again, but Makoto paused for just a moment.  
"I can't take you anywhere anymore you know!"  
"Sorry Mako." Usagi apologized again "That's what happens when you're a celebrity."  
"Yeah yeah." Makoto caught up to the group as they all entered the aquarium.

Inside the rooms were all dark, back-lit by the light of the sun cast into the water. The aquarium was like going to another world; schools of fish swim across the length of the displays, large exotic fish moved slowly and seemed to look around all the time, constantly aware of their surroundings. Occasionally a stingray appeared, frightening Nari, she hugged her mother as they walked past the displays. Another display featured sharks. Nari saw many types of sharks, a Hammerhead, a Great White, lots of baby sharks; she was scared of all of them. Nari squeezed her mother's hips tightly. "Nari, are you afraid?" Nari nodded, too afraid to speak. Makoto smiled and hugged her daughter. "Don't worry, the glass protects us from them and they don't want to hurt you." At that moment a large Great White Shark swam right beside them and Nari yelped in fear. Makoto looked up to see the shark and chuckled. "Aw, just stay close to me okay?" Nari nodded more furiously, anything to make the scary shark go away. They kept walking now into a new display full of exotic fishes and creatures; strange rare fish, turtles, seahorses - _not the ones Nari wanted to see_ , starfish, octopi and jellyfish. At the same time Nari felt awed, cheerful, frightened and curious at all the sea life. But it was Makoto who had the most profound affect, she too saw all the marine life with a degree of awe and curiosity, but as a jellyfish swam into her view all of a sudden a thought entered her mind. She looked right at the jellyfish and studied its features; its curved bauble head, the tentacles and stinger arms, its opacity; Makoto noted everything about its appearance. "Come Nari, we've reached the end."  
"Aw, really?" Nari asked.  
"Sorry, but yes." Nari put her hand into the glass; she wanted to feel the touch of a starfish at the bottom of the display. Makoto let out a slight "Mm. Come on now." They all walked out and talked about their experiences. "I loved the exotic creatures. All those weird things like jellyfish and starfish."  
"I liked the sharks." Chibiusa admitted "I don't really know why but something about them, maybe there size."  
"How about you Nari, what did you like?"  
"I liked all the weird fishes." She meant the jellyfish and starfish. "The star ones were so cool."  
"Guys." Makoto decided to change today's plans a bit. "I actually want to go home; you guys can come and play with Nari if you like."  
"Home?" Usagi asked "Why?"  
Makoto sighed. "I kinda want to create a new dish."  
"Oh wow, really?" Usagi had Makoto's Burning Mandala before and was eager to see the great Chef Makoto Asanuma at work.  
"Yeah sure, I'll actually enjoy the company. Usually I'm by myself or it's me and Nari and I'd have to find something to babysit her. You don't mind do you?"  
"Of course not." Chibiusa said "We love playing with Nari."  
"Okay then." The group returned to her car and prepared to go.

Makoto's home was a modest house. She moved out of her apartment years ago and with Ittou they bought their own house in Setagaya, a small two story home with a large lounge area, a dining hall and kitchen, and stairs leading into everyone's rooms. Really the house was a simple dwelling, except for one room - Makoto insisted that the kitchen be fitted with a stereo system so that when she felt the need to create a new dish she could play her music and dance to its rhythm as she had always done. Tonight Makoto was in full swing, she was flash cooking thin strips of fish as well as adding stock to the gelatine to give it flavour. Superfast Jellyfish was blasting through the speakers in her kitchen as everyone else was playing video games in the lounge. "Come on, come on, come on." Usagi was trying so hard to beat Nari in the game, but Nari was too good.  
 _TIME!_ the game said. "I think I won Aunty Usagi." Nari taunted.  
"Well I know I beat Chibi." Usagi replied.  
"Honestly I don't think so." Chibiusa said  
 _THE WINNER IS_ , the game announced, _SAMAS!_ "Yay!" Nari jumped up. "Mummy, I won!"  
"Again?" Makoto yelled over all the noise "Well done Nari."  
Nari feel back down into her seat. "Uncle Mamoru makes fun games doesn't he?"  
"Yes he does." Usagi replied. Mamoru works as a programmer and game designed for HAL Laboratories, amongst others Mamoru helped to build at this point Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and many Sailor Moon games for Nintendo.  
"Aunty Usagi, why don't you play as Sailor Moon?"  
"Oh, I don't like fighting as myself." Usagi said while selecting a new fighter. "I just don't like fighting." _PIT!_  
"Well if you won't I will" Chibiusa declared. _SAILOR MOON!_  
"Actually since you mention me, I got an email from this animator a week ago. She wants me to work with her to make my story into an anime."  
"No way!" Chibiusa and Nari both exclaimed.  
"Oh yeah, didn't I tell you?" They both shook their heads. "Well I decided to do it. Why not make the kids of today wonder about us?"  
"Oh wow." The two spoke in unison.  
"It's no big deal." Usagi shrugged.  
"It's a huge deal." Chibiusa pointed out. "You're going to take our story and turn it into a cartoon. I think it's a great idea." Nari selected a stage and the game was about to start. "You know anime is huge in America right?"  
"No it isn't!" Usagi exclaimed, not at all aware of how wrong she was.  
"Hey guys, how's everything out there?" Makoto yelled out from the kitchen.  
"We're good. Just started a new game." Usagi called out back.  
"Okay make it the last one my new dish is ready."  
"Okay." Usagi replied "You heard your mother, this is the last one."  
"Okay." Nari said pressing buttons as she kept on dominating the game.

After the gaming session all four of them sat at the dining table, waiting to see and taste Makoto's newest dish. "It's smells great Mako." Usagi said "Is it seafood?"  
"Yep." Makoto replied as she took two plates to the table. "Get a load of this!" She put a plate in front of Usagi and she nearly jumped out of her chair screaming. " **AAAAHHH!** What's that?" It looked almost exactly like the jellyfish they all saw in the aquarium.  
"It's a jellyfish." Makoto smiled at them, placing the second plate for Chibiusa. They were all a bit creeped out by its appearance. "It's not a real jellyfish! It's just looks like one."  
"Oh." They all said as Makoto went to get the other two plates.  
"I used gelatine to make the shapes and bend them so they all look like the parts of a jellyfish and the innards are actually thin slices of cooked fish." Makoto came out with the other plates and laying Nari's on the table. Nari simply had a look of horror, no matter how much her mother will tell her otherwise it looked like she just butchered one of her favourite animals. "Don't worry Nari, it's not real."  
"It isn't?"  
"No, it's fine." Makoto started to eat her dish and then, incentivized by Makoto, everyone cut the jellyfish and began to eat it.  
Immediately they began to taste just how good it was. "Wow Mako. This tastes great." Usagi said.  
"Thanks, I used the stock from the salmon to flavour the gelatine."  
"This is fantastic!" Chibiusa exclaimed. "What are going to call it?"  
"Honestly?" Makoto asked. She paused to lean into the table a little. "Sūpāfasutokurage."  
"Huh?" they all asked.  
"Superfast Jellyfish."  
"Oh." Usagi uttered "Wouldn't calling it Chō Hayai Kurage make more sense?"  
"Yeah, but I want to keep the English sounding name."  
"Huh. Okay." Usagi shrugged and just kept on eating the dish. They all continued to eat Makoto's newest creation and revelled in the unique creativity in the design and the taste. Along with Burning Mandala, Superfast Jellyfish would eventually solidify Makoto as a rising and preeminent Tokyo chef in the Modern Japanese cuisine.

* * *

the Present Day

A car entered the driveway of Makoto's house, an old NISSAN Pulsar - the very same car Makoto had now for more than ten years. She parked her car and got out to enter her home. She chauffeured the other women back to their homes and now was just glad to return home and rest. Her keys jingled and she opened the front door. Immediately she heard the sound of the stereo in the lounge room on, she knew what that meant. "Oh, Empire Ants. I love this track."  
"Yeah, I've got it on repeat." Nari was sitting on the couch reading her mother's book, Usagi's autobiography.  
"I'm going to take a nap; I'll be in my room." Makoto began to walk up the stairs. "See you soon."  
"Good night." Nari said. Upstairs, Makoto entered her bedroom and walked up to her dresser. She undid her hair tie and let down her hair, unwinding from today's revelations. Then her gaze turned to an object she hadn't really looked at in a long time, she reached out and picked it up - her Star Power Stick. Just like Usagi did before Makoto began to reminisce about her time as Sailor Jupiter and the warmth she received from Usagi and the group of friends she forged all that time ago. Then she began to think about what Usagi said earlier today;

 _"I'm afraid she is. The Sailor Scouts need to reform." -  
"Noone is asking you to become Sailor Scouts again. In fact I'm asking you to find your daughters and see if they are Sailor Scouts." -_

She stopped thinking about the past and started to think about the future, the very idea of Nari being a Sailor Scout filled her with mixed emotions; excitement, joy, worry, fear, confusion, a great sense of ambiance churned her stomach. Makoto continued to stare at the stick for a while longer, working out exactly how she felt about all this. She gripped the stick tighter, she reached a decision. Makoto placed the stick in her breast pocket and left her room to return back downstairs.

Walking downstairs she looked at Nari reading her book, almost as if she was preparing to become a Sailor Scout already. At the bottom of the stairs Makoto leaned against the railing, staring at Nari. Feeling increasingly tired Makoto closed her eyes and began to dream, the music was influencing her vision. **_"JUPITER STAR POWER, MAKE UP!"_** The build-up of energy was electric. Makoto saw a vision of a transformation taking place, she was transforming into Sailor Jupiter, or so she thought. At the end of the transformation she looked at the result and it wasn't who she thought it was; everything was as she remembered, the laced boots, the green skirt and collar, the pink bows, the tiara, but one significant difference was apparent - it wasn't Makoto. It was a different girl, with long blonde hair down to her waist, bangs that frame her eyes down to her ears, and aquamarine eyes - a mix of blue and bright green. When the girl struck her final pose - Makoto's own pose - Makoto realized who it was, it was Nari.

 _"Little memories, marching on your little feet, working the machine.  
Will it spin? Will it soar? A little dream, working the machine.  
Zoom. Walk away. In planets far. Closing in oh, and going far."_

Makoto began to appropriate her daughter into her memories, watching her fight the very minions and villains she herself did nearly 25 years ago. Watching Nari perform attacks - Supreme Thunder, Sparkling Wide Pressure, Jupiter Oak Evolution - Makoto saw her daughter as powerful and strong-willed. Even though she was just aware enough to know she was really just remembering her past and putting Nari in her memories, she began to feel a growing sense calm; her fears began to melt away at the prospect of Nari as a Sailor Scout. Then she began to remember about the times she had with Usagi and the rest of the scouts. Makoto always felt warm and welcome around Usagi, she had a connection with all the girls that made them smile, Usagi's pure heart had always brought out the absolute best in everyone she came across, and none more so than the Inner Senshi - the four girls she discovered first and made into her best friends. Makoto began to feel a sense of warmth in her heart, thinking that the same thing may happen to her daughter.

As the music began to fade away Makoto's conscience slowly returned and she woke up to find Nari, still reading her book. Makoto took a deep breath and sighed, her fears and illusions dispersed. She sighed so loudly that Nari turned to find her mother at the stairwell. "Mother?" Makoto looked up and a little flustered. "Are you okay?"  
Makoto smiled "Yes. I'm just daydreaming."  
"Coming up with a new recipe?"  
She shook her head. "No, just dreaming."  
"Heh. Okay." Nari returned to her reading, but Makoto continued to stare for a moment longer.  
"Nari." Nari turned back to her mother. "I need to talk to you, can you come upstairs to my room?"  
Nari was a bit surprised "Sounds serious."  
Makoto nodded slightly to that response. "It is serious." After a brief pause Nari marked off her book and set it down on the couch before getting up to follow her mother up the stairs. Makoto opened the door to her room and let Nari in. "Have a seat on the bed." Nari did so and Makoto sat next to her. "Nari. There's something I need to tell you. It's something I've had to keep a secret for-" she sighed "twenty-five years now. It's something no one really knows." Makoto paused "Not even your father knows about this." Nari raised her head slightly; it seemed that she _was_ being serious. Makoto decided to change her tact a bit. "Tomorrow Aunty Usagi is going to visit you."  
"Oh yay." Nari interrupted "I love hanging out with Aunty Usagi, she always makes me smile."  
Makoto smiled at the last statement. "You know what? She tells me you make her smile too." Nari loved to hear that, she smiled back at her mother. "Anyway, Usagi is going to visit you tomorrow, not me."  
"Oh." Nari uttered "Why is that?"  
"Well she wants to get to know you better. She's going to ask some questions and I'd like you to be honest with her, okay?"  
Nari was getting confused "Uh, okay."  
Makoto sighed and continued. "The reason Usagi is coming to visit is because she wants to know-" she took a moment to phrase the next sentence properly. "If you are a Sailor Scout."  
"Huh?" Nari was now very confused "Why? Why me? I'm not part of the royal family, and I don't know anyone who is a Sailor Scout. How could I be a Sailor Scout?"  
Makoto nodded along with her. "Yes, you're not part of the royal family. That's just Usagi, Uncle Mamoru and Chibiusa."  
"Right."  
"Nari." Makoto leaned in towards her daughter. "You do know a Sailor Scout."  
At that moment Nari gasped, everything started to click into piece. Her mother's secret, Usagi's visit, if she's not a Moon Princess then. "You're a Sailor Scout?" she asked.  
Makoto nodded slightly, just enough to be noticed. Nari gasped again as her mother reached into her breast pocket and revealed her Star Power Stick to Nari. "I was Sailor Jupiter." For several moments there was silence; Nari had no idea what to think. All her life she knew her mother as this creative, passionate, unique person who mentored her and certainly entertained her as she grew up into the fourteen year old she is today. Even though she knew that her mother knew Usagi and that Usagi was Sailor Moon, it never occurred to her at all that her mother might have been a Sailor Scout. It's not unreasonable to assume that, but she didn't even do that, she literally never entertained the idea. This new discovery will change the way she sees her mother; no longer just creative and passionate, now as she read in her book she starts to see things in Sailor Jupiter in her mother - strength and nobility. Makoto on the other hand was trying to read her daughter's expression; she could see the shock and confusion on her daughter face, but she tried to imagine just what was running through her mind. Maybe the thought of leading a double life as a super heroine, maybe the thought of keeping this secret for so long, maybe the thought of fighting wave after wave of bad guys. In truth Makoto could never really understand what her daughter could be thinking, as a teenager she was always difficult to understand; Nari had such a unique way of thinking that it is sometimes often confusing to even talk to her, but Makoto also knew that that came from her own unique vision. Nari was also a bit of a wall flower, she has a lot of trouble being social with her friends at school and Makoto always tries to help her whenever time becomes available, which really isn't that often.

Finally Nari asked the question. "Am I a Sailor Scout mother?"  
Makoto smiled "That's what Usagi wants to find out tomorrow." Still holding the Star Power Stick Makoto then realized she could find out right now. "Actually we don't need to wait." She opened her hand and passed the stick to Nari. "Take the Star Power Stick." Nari was nervous, visibly trembling at the very thought that she might actually be a Sailor Scout. "Don't worry Nari." Tentatively Nari reached out to grab the stick and as soon as she touched it a green light began to shine through her forehead. Makoto could not believe her eyes, her daughter bore the symbol of Jupiter, the very same that she herself possessed.  
Nari could feel warmth from her head and began to cover it. "What's happening mother?"  
Makoto's eyes began to water, the light glistening off her tears. "Nari, have a look in the mirror." She then leaned back to reveal the mirror on the dresser. Nari was gobsmacked. Her eyes widened as far as eyes could be widened, she saw the light from her forehead and couldn't believe what she saw. "You _are_ Sailor Jupiter." Makoto added, she leaned back up and then hugged Nari, crying as she did. Nari began to cry as well, she simply can't find any other way to handle the situation. The two women continued to cry for a moment as they each tried to come to terms with what each other was and is. Makoto was the first to regain her composure and pulled away from her daughter. "Nari, I have never been more proud of you than right now." she said while trying to wipe away her tears.  
"Mummy." Nari hasn't used that name since she was five. "I'm scared."  
Still teary eyed Makoto hugged Nari again. "I know exactly how you feel Nari." She sniffled some more before releasing her embrace and looking back at her, holding her shoulders. "I was just like you when I became Sailor Jupiter. I was fourteen in fact when it happened, and back then I was a bit of an outcast. People were too afraid to come near me because I put people off with my aggression. Then I met Usagi in school and she helped me open up, and _that's_ when I became Sailor Jupiter. I was a tough young girl, but I remember being afraid almost all the time, fighting so many enemies for so long. I'd put on a brave face but I was terrified." Makoto paused, seeing her daughter so distraught and frightened nearly unnerved her again. "True courage does not come from fearlessness. Meeting your deepest fears and overcoming them, _that's_ genuine courage." Nari stopped crying, it dawned on her that this side of her mother had always been there, it was never in full display all the time but she realized that it always appeared in the darkest moments of her life - being bullied in school, rejected by boys she liked, and her terrible introversion. "And I see that in you. You are such a courageous young girl." Her mother always told her to meet her fears and to find a way to overcome them. Nari leapt into her mother arms and hugged her again tightly. Makoto started to cry again "You'll make a great Sailor Scout Nari, I know it."

The two women continued to hug each other, mother comforting daughter, daughter comforting mother.


	8. Chapter 7

The original chapter contains mature content that is not in keeping with the content policy of . This is therefore a censored rendition of Chapter 7 with the offensive material removed or replaced.

Chapter 7 - Star Crossed Love

Makoto and Nari both spent much of the rest of the day bonding with each other, it's a very rare thing to discover your daughter to be a heroine. They both spent the day talking about each other, Sailor Jupiter's experiences and Makoto's past life, Makoto even encouraged her daughter to keep reading Usagi's autobiography, she told Nari that the book was excellent and could teach her a lot about the possible situations she might expect as a Sailor Scout, both as a scout and as a civilian.

Later that night everyone was preparing for bed, Nari was already asleep and the couple were in their room - Ittou finished changing into his pyjamas and walked over to his side of the bed while Makoto was already in bed sending a message on her phone;

 ** _To: Usagi-chan_**  
 _Usagi i have incredible news. Nari is a sailor scout! It's so amazing we've totally bonded over this. Talk to you soon. :)_

Ittou climbed into bed, noticing his wife playing on her phone. "Hey, what are you doing?"  
"I'm just sending Usagi a message." Makoto finished typing and sent the message.  
"Seriously?" Ittou couldn't believe it "You talked to her all day didn't you?"  
Makoto chuckled "Actually no." She put her phone onto the dresser. "I spent the morning talking to Usagi and actually I spent the rest of the day with Nari."  
Sitting up Ittou leaned back onto his pillow and the wall. "Really?"  
"Yes." Makoto's smile dropped as she realized she needed to talk to Ittou about Sailor Jupiter. "Actually we need to talk about Nari, but to do that we need to talk about me."  
Confused Ittou raised his eyebrow. "Huh? Why?"  
Makoto sat up onto the bed and met his eye level. "Ittou." She paused for a few seconds, trying to find the right way to tell her husband. Seeing the curiosity in his eyes she just blurted it out. "I'm Sailor Jupiter."  
Ittou was stunned; he could not believe what Makoto just said. "You're Sailor Jupiter?!"  
"Oh." Makoto looked away for a second, she just realized her mistake. "No, I mean I _was_ Sailor Jupiter."  
Ittou's jaw dropped, his wife just admitted that she used to be a heroine? _No_ , he thought, _this can't be true._ "No Mako." He finally said "You weren't Sailor Jupiter."  
"Huh?" Makoto was shocked at his remark "What do you mean?"  
"Mako." Ittou reached over to her, stroking her hair and brushing her cheek. "I know you. You're a creative, passionate woman; and I remember Sailor Jupiter as a strong and noble fighter. I'm sorry but I don't see that in you."  
"But I _was_ Sailor Jupiter!" Makoto protested. She doesn't understand why Ittou doesn't believe her, she never lied to him before and of course he knows about Usagi and Mamoru - Mamoru introduced _him_ to _her!_ "Hang on!" Makoto quickly turned back to the dresser; she decided to reveal her stick. "This should prove it." She grabbed it and turned back to Ittou, showing him her Star Power Stick. "Here."  
Her hand outstretched Ittou examined the stick in her hand. "What is that?"  
"My transformation stick. I used it to become Sailor Jupiter back in the day." Ittou picked up the stick and it immediately felt different to what he thought. He was expecting some sort of plastic toy one would find in a toy store with bright colours and metallic paint. This was nothing like that; the stick was heavier than he thought, the stick was metal - possibly steel. The golden details looked like gold; they even felt like they were gold. Finally the details were ornate and delicate, the golden crown, the golden ball bearings around the gold star. _If this is a hoax_ , he thought, _Makoto certainly did a great job hiding it._ It felt so real, maybe it _is_ real.  
Ittou twitched and handed back the stick. "I'm sorry Mako but I need more than that."  
Makoto couldn't believe it. "Seriously?!" _He must have felt the metal_ , she thought, _he has to know that isn't a toy._ "What can I do to prove to you that I'm Sailor Jupiter?" Makoto raised her voice, exasperated at his disbelief.  
"Honestly?" Ittou replied and Makoto nodded back. "If what you say is true and that is a transformation stick, then please, transform."  
Makoto just stared back at him. "What?"  
"Transform for me. If you really were Sailor Jupiter you should still be able to transform into her, right?"  
"Okay, first of all it's 10:00 PM. Second of all it's very cold. Do you remember those uniforms? They're pretty short."  
"I thought so." Ittou concluded she was just trying to be more interesting. He sunk back under the covers and into bed, lying down to fall asleep, but Makoto wouldn't have a bar of it. She can't simply let alone.  
Makoto took a very deep breath and sighed deeply at what she was about to do. "Fine." Ittou turned back to Makoto, reacting to her utterance. "If it will prove to you who I am, I'll transform into Sailor Jupiter." Makoto then pulled off the covers and got out of bed, looking for a good place to stand. Ittou wasn't sure what was happening, _is she really going to try to transform?_ , he thought.

After a few moments of moving around the bedroom Makoto found just enough space to transform. She held her stick aloft, raising her right hand over her and preparing to transform, but then a thought crossed her mind. "Hey, if Nari wakes up you're a dead man." Ittou chuckled and Makoto returned to her pose. She took one more deep breath before shouting _**"JUPITER STAR POWER, MAKE UP!"**_ The stick built up energy for just a second before discharging; electricity arced from the stick to all across her body, a swirling vortex of lightning. The storm began to encircle her; Makoto stretched her left hand out to push the storm away from her as she had always done. Ittou sat back in awe, eyes wide open and jaw dropped, his assumption was entirely disproven. The electricity was now entirely around her, the storm surged all around her and then _**CRACK!**_ Thunder struck. The electricity dispersed, in its place was Sailor Jupiter's uniform; green laced boots, a short green shirt with a pink back bow, her pure white leotard with a large pink bow, a green sailors collar, held together by a polished green brooch, her long white gloves with green collar trims, her shining rose studs, the green balls of her hair tie and a golden tiara with an emerald jewel in its centre. At the end of the transformation Sailor Jupiter stretched out her left hand and held back her right, striking her traditional pose. She was finally revealed, Makoto was Sailor Jupiter, glowing in the light of the bed lamp. Makoto then turned to Ittou and gestured to him to see her. "Proof?"  
"Oh my god!" Ittou still couldn't believe it, but least now that was just a figure of speech. Makoto was indeed Sailor Jupiter. All of a sudden Ittou felt a strange sensation take over his body, it was a feeling he had not felt in years. Desire. He pulled off the covers of the bed, stood up and immediately walked up to Makoto, unable to control his thoughts. "I can't believe it. You really are Sailor Jupiter."  
Makoto just stood there, staring at Ittou. "Yep." She smiled back at him.  
Ittou stood in front of his wife in her uniform; his right hand reached out to her left arm and held onto her, still in a trance. "Mako, you have no idea what this means to me." His breathing was noticeably heavier. "I used to try to find Sailor Jupiter so long ago; I tried to follow her a few times whenever I knew a fight was near me." Makoto flustered a little, she never knew about this before. "Mako." Ittou moved closer to her. "I tried to find her because I fell in love with her." Makoto gasped, her eyes began to water, the light shimmering off her eyes. "She was such a strong fighter and noble friend; I wanted to find her and to be with her the whole time." He sighed "But then she saved the world and the Sailor Scouts broke apart. I'm not proud to admit that I cried myself to sleep a number of times." A stream of tears began to fall down Makoto's cheek. "Mamoru saw me one day and decided to introduce me to a girl he knew." Ittou began to smile. "You." With her mouth wide open Makoto gasped again. "Seeing you here, now, like this. It all makes sense now. Do you remember when I proposed to you? I said that a part of me fell in love with you at the start?" Makoto nodded back, too distraught to speak. "I guess I must have always thought you were Sailor Jupiter. That deep love I had must have been my subconscious or something. Whatever it was it was telling me that you were who I was looking for the whole time." Ittou reached in to kiss her and the two felt a strange new sensation surge around their bodies. Lust. Ittou broke away from Makoto and his body tremored, surging with energy he could not contain for much longer. "Mako, I really want to be with you right now."  
Makoto too felt the energy in her, she also quaked. "Ittou. We can't right now." She was barely capable of containing her own desire.  
"Mako, I need to be with you." Ittou began to stutter. "I-I can't control myself much longer." His breathing was very laboured now.  
They both wanted the same thing but Makoto needed to finish her business before anything can happen. "Please Ittou. Just sit down; we still need to talk about Nari." Makoto slowly sat onto the bed, still shaking from the encounter, Ittou sat beside her. "Okay." Makoto tried to sigh "Now that you know I'm Sailor Jupiter we can talk about Nari." She rested her hand on his knee and began to smile again. "Ittou, our daughter is the next Sailor Jupiter."  
Still shuddering and still in shock Ittou appeared unaffected, he was in a permanent state of shock. "Really?!" Makoto nodded slightly. Ittou could not believe what was happening, _my wife was the original Sailor Jupiter_ , he thought, _now Nari is Sailor Jupiter? This is incredible!_ All of a sudden a thought just occurred to him. "Wait. Does that mean she's going to fight?"  
Makoto sighed "Yes, probably. Usagi told us that a new threat seems to be looming, so chances are she'll be fighting someone." Makoto could see the grief on her husband's face; she tried to comfort him, stroking his leg. "Don't worry Ittou. Nari will be fine, she has an inner strength that will come out, and I know it." Ittou saw the affirmation in his wife's eyes, somehow she allayed his fears. He couldn't control himself any longer, Ittou lent in to kiss Makoto again with even more passion; the energy between them was still coursing through their veins. They both laid down along the bed, kissing and touching, surrendering to their desires.

"I understand it now." Makoto declared "I finally get it." Makoto kissed Ittou instantly on the lips and pulled back just as quickly.  
"Get what?" Ittou asked.  
Makoto took a moment to breathe easier. "You said you followed Sailor Jupiter right? The whole time?"  
"Yes."  
"Well then you must know that I never had a lasting relationship with anyone while I was a Sailor Scout, right?"  
Ittou bobbed his head "More or less. You've had a couple of boyfriends but they never lasted."  
Still smiling Makoto sighed "Everyone else had someone by the time we split up; you know Usagi and Mamoru." He nodded back in reply. "Rei had been dating Yuuichirou for so long they got married by that time, Ami reunited with her long distance boyfriend Ryo and also married, and Minako was starting her relationship with Lee." Despite herself Makoto was still smiling. "I was the only one who never found true love as a Sailor Scout. I was starting to get depressed over that. Then we disbanded, and then Mamoru introduced us to each other." She paused for a moment to let Ittou work it out, but he was just too confused. Makoto sighed, clearly he didn't understand. "You idiot!" She kissed him again as briefly as before. " _You_ are my true love!" She was grinning for ear to ear. "You were the one I was meant to find back then. You fell in love with me and tried to find me the whole time. You were _always_ meant to be for me." That's when it hit Ittou; he wasn't the only one to rediscover his lover. Ittou saw Sailor Jupiter in his wife; Makoto saw her true love in her husband. They both regressed to when they were teenagers, seeing each other in a totally different light than what they used to before and they both discovered each other for the very first time, a second time. Then Makoto hugged Ittou tightly around his body. "Ittou."  
"Mm?" Ittou grunted, looking down at her.  
"Don't leave me." She whispered, falling asleep on top of him.  
Ittou smiled "Leave you?" he wrapped his arms around her, providing the security she desperately wanted. "Never." They both sighed and began to fall asleep. "Thank you for loving me Sailor Jupiter." Ittou said softly.  
Makoto was just conscious enough to reply back. "Thank you for finding me Ittou." Ittou used the last of his energy to switch off the desk lamp and fall asleep with his wife in his arms; the couple had felt the power of true love for the very first time in their lives. It was eclectic, dangerous, electrifying, deep, but most of all it was raw energy that transcended everything else.


	9. Chapter 8

This chapter features music in the prose, when you reach a link please right click on it to open a new tab and let the music play as you read.

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Chapter 8 - Nari Asanuma: Sailor Jupiter

A black car was driving up the slope into the tableland. The car was headed towards Setagaya and inside the TOYOTA Usagi was driving Chibiusa and Luna to visit Makoto and Nari. Chibiusa was beside her mother, pestering her. "Why exactly is Luna coming with us again?"  
"We need her to come in case Nari can't use the Star Power Stick," Usagi replied "or if she needs anything else we don't know about."  
"Well what can she need?" Chibiusa shrugged.  
"We don't know Chibi." Luna interjected at the back "She might need something else to transform into Sailor Jupiter."  
"But I was able to transform using mother's Silver Crystal. Why can't she transform with her mother's stick?"  
"Chibi, right now we don't know whether she can or can't transform with it." Usagi replied "All we know is that she _is_ a Sailor Scout and that she _definitely is_ Sailor Jupiter."  
Pulling up to a set of traffic lights Luna leaned up to Chibiusa's chair. "Don't you want me to come and see Makoto Chibi?"  
"Of course I do Luna." Chibiusa turned to see her "I don't want to take you away from your duties through."  
"Sit back Luna, we're about to move off." Usagi instructed her and Luna obliged. Then as the car began to move again Usagi addressed her daughter. "Chibi, Luna is allowed to come and go wherever and whenever she wants, she may be my butler but she is also free to spend her time however she wants. Right now she wants to see Mako and Nari."  
"Of course mother." Chibiusa turned back over her seat to see Luna. "I'm sorry if I offended you Luna. I didn't mean-"  
"I'm okay Chibi," Luna replied, lifting her hand "but I am upset that you don't consider me as a friend before a butler."  
"But I do Luna. I mean okay, I guess I should have thought you'd want to see the old gang, but I-"  
"I really do Chibi. I haven't seen everyone in a while. I actually miss them." Chibiusa saw Luna become sad and it was then that she realized just what she done; Chibi really hurt Luna's feelings. Even since Luna became Usagi's butler she had less and less time to really socialize with the girls, eventually she almost never saw them when they visited. Yesterday was a wakeup call, she needed to re-establish some old friendships, so she asked Usagi to join them visiting Makoto. Luna said it was in case Nari was not capable to use the Star Power Stick, and in truth that is a concern, but the major reason was to actually spend time with Makoto.  
"Oh god." Chibiusa uttered.  
"Hush Chibi." Usagi snapped lightly "I think you've done enough damage." Chibiusa turned to her mother and her eyes started to water. She really didn't mean to upset anyone but she managed to make Luna sad and upset Usagi. Chibiusa brought everyone down.  
She shook her head and muttered to herself "I'm such an idiot."  
"Okay. We're here." Usagi announced as she pulled over on the street, just before Makoto's house. Everyone got out of the car, but Chibiusa rushed out quickly and just as Luna closed her door and prepared to walk Chibiusa ran around the car and up to her, Luna was flushed when Chibiusa hugged her tightly, this sudden affection had come out of nowhere.  
"I'm such an idiot Luna." Chibiusa explained "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have made you feel bad."  
"Oh." Luna blushed even more "Um, thank you Chibi." She chuckled nervously, she had no idea how to react, and this seemed to have come so suddenly.  
Usagi turned back to see the two women make up and smiled, she knew Chibiusa would do that - Usagi still sees a lot of her younger self in her daughter; a ditzy young woman who occasionally gets her foot caught in her mouth and cares deeply for her friends and family. "Hey guys." Usagi called out to them. "Don't keep Mako waiting!" She saw the two react and start to walk down the footpath, holding each other by their waists. _Sometimes I wonder about Chibi_ , Usagi sighed as she thought, _but then her real personality shines through and she always makes everyone feel better._ Usagi began to grin; she really is her mother's daughter. Luna and Chibiusa met with Usagi and the doorstep, she looked at each of them and asked "Are we ready?" They both nodded and thus Usagi turned about to ring the doorbell.  
After a few seconds the front door opened and Nari greeted everyone. "Hi Auntie Usagi!"  
"Hiya Nari!" Usagi hugged Nari like she used to as a child. "How's your mother?"  
"She's just preparing some food. Come in."

Nari stepped aside to let everyone in; Usagi, then Chibiusa, then a strange lady she never met before. "Oh, who are you?"  
"Nari, this is Luna." Usagi introduced her to Nari. "She is a friend of ours and your mother's."  
"Oh." Nari heard that name before. " _You're_ Luna?"  
Luna was taken by surprise; she was never acquainted with Nari before so she should be a total stranger to her. "Oh, you know me?"  
"Not really, but I thought Luna was a cat." Luna was stunned, everyone was stunned. How does Nari know that? Nari looked around to find everyone surprised at the seemingly insider knowledge she has. "I read about it."  
Suddenly Usagi had a thought. "You read about it? From my book?"  
"Yeah. Mother asked me to read it so I can be a great Sailor Scout."  
"Oh!" Everyone sighed and chuckled and laughed. Usagi was the most relieved. "You had us going there for a while." After everyone's mirth had dispersed Usagi explained. "Well yes she is the Luna in the book. We transformed her into a human being."  
"Oh wow, no way!" Nari beamed. She read the book but never imagined Usagi had the power to changes animals into people. She doesn't really.  
"Yeah. Luna was getting old in cat years so we found a way to make her human." Usagi raised her hand, gesturing to Luna. "And now here she is."  
"Wow!" Nari turned to Luna and walked up to her. "Welcome to our home Luna."  
Luna blushed again. "My my, what a formal welcome. Thank you Nari, I appreciate that."  
Nari smiled back at Luna "Let's sit down." Everyone headed over to the lounge room and just as everyone sat down Makoto entered the room with a plate of sweets and cakes.  
"Hey guys." Makoto said "I've got some sweets from the cake shop." For all of Makoto's talent in the kitchen she can't cook deserts well.  
"Oh yay!" Usagi still loves cake, any chance she gets to eat cake she takes it. Usagi immediately grabs a plate and a piece of chocolate cake, everyone else took a piece of cake or a sweet biscuit. "Mmm, this is so good Mako."  
"Yeah I thought you'd like it Usagi." Everyone kept on eating their treats. "Mm. Luna, I'm surprised you're here. Have you meet Nari?"  
"Yes." Luna finished chewing her biscuit. "She is a very polite young girl." Nari blushed at the comment and smiled. "You've raised her wonderfully Makoto." Nari laughed nervously.  
"Thank you Luna." Makoto replied. "Actually I'm glad you're here Luna. I'd like to catch up with you; I don't get to see you very much anymore."  
Luna blushed "Oh, well thank you Makoto. I've been go-"  
"Luna." Makoto interrupted "You've known me now for 25 years. Please, call me Mako." She smiled at Luna and Luna simply looked back at her, beet red with embarrassment.  
"Of course, Mako." Luna smiled back at her. "I've been good, Usagi and Mamoru have made quite a home for me in their house and they treat me well."  
Makoto looked slyly at Luna "Come on, give me the dirt. Who's been sleeping with whom?"  
Dumbfounded Luna leapt back, taken completely by surprise at the question. "MAKO!" Usagi yelled at her while Makoto was laughing at herself. Chibiusa and Nari were both chuckling softly to each other. "Don't tease Luna like that!" Everyone was laughing but Luna was just shocked, she actually thought Makoto knew about last night when Usagi and Mamoru _did_ sleep together. Luna just sat there in the laughter and the noise, embarrassed and blushing.  
"Aw Luna, are you okay?" Makoto asked.  
"Oh." Luna snapped out of her bubble. "Uh, I'm okay." She laughed nervously. No one knew it but Luna had been feeling lonely recently, she reached the point in her life where she finds herself thinking about finding someone to settle down with. She has been finding it difficult to deal with complex human emotions; she wants to find love and experience what most of the other girls have now with their husbands, however she has the personality and experience of a fifteen year old girl, trapped in the wisdom and the body of a thirty year old woman. Her head has been trying to understand these conflicting emotions and desires for some time now, and every time she thinks about Artemis doesn't help at all. For all the appreciation she has towards Usagi she also feels personally responsible for Artemis' death; as cats both she and Artemis were suffering from old age by the time the scouts split up and while the girls found a way to transform them into humans they only had enough power to transform one of them, committing the other cat to a death sentence. The last anyone saw of him was when he stammered down the steps of Hikawa Shrine, Minako was so distraught she ran up to him and hold him one last time, but he disappeared and was never seen from again.  
"Are you alright Luna?" Makoto asked. She was genuinely concerned, everyone stopping laughing half a minute ago and they all just stared at Luna staring off into space.  
"Oh!" Luna returned to Earth. "Yes I'm fine. I'm just thinking." She knew if she mentioned her problems they all start worrying about her, and today is Nari's day. Luna smiled back at Makoto.  
Makoto grinned. "Great. I've got lunch cooking right now; I'll just go and check up on it."  
"Can I come with you?" Luna asked as she stood up.  
Everyone was a bit surprised by Luna. "Uh, are you sure Luna?" Makoto asked  
"Yes, I'd like to talk to you some more and keep you company."  
"Uh, well, if you want to, okay sure." Makoto replied.  
She stood up and the two women walked off towards the kitchen, but as Luna passed Nari she stopped to turn to her to say "Thank you for welcoming me Nari. I'll see you later on today." She smiled at her and Nari smiled back, Luna wanted to make a connection with new friends as well as old ones. Luna then continued to go to the kitchen and talk to Makoto.

Walking into the kitchen Makoto walked up to the stove, a pot of chicken stock was simmering away, a second pot of noodles were cooking in a bath of boiling water, and ingredients were scattered about the kitchen bench. Luna followed behind her, standing by at the end of the kitchen. She knows that a cook needs all their space in the kitchen. "What are you making for lunch?"  
"I'm taking a break from creating new dishes, just a simple Miso Ramen with egg and scallion." Makoto checked the pots and began to prepare the ingredients.  
"Mm." Luna smelled the stock and licked her lips. "It smells delicious Mako." Then a thought occurred to Luna. "Mako, can I ask a question?"  
"Sure!"  
"Can you teach me how to cook?" Makoto turned to Luna, shocked at the question. "Nothing like what you do, but I'd like to learn to be better at what I do for Usagi."  
Makoto blushed at the compliment "Do you cook Luna?"  
"Of course. I cook a lot of simple meals; pasta, steaks, roasted vegetables. I'd like to improve my repertoire and my skill." Luna smiled at Makoto.  
Makoto laughed a single "Ha! Alright. I'll teach you a few things, but since I spend so much time at the restaurant I can't do a lot, I'm usually dead tired by the end of the day."  
"Oh no, I don't want to impose." Luna immediately started to recant, raising her hands in front of her and shaking them.  
"Luna, I'm happy to help you."  
"Oh no, if it's too mu-" Makoto walked up to Luna and held her hands.  
Makoto could sense that Luna was not feeling well. "Luna, can I ask you something?"  
Stopped by Makoto's advance Luna replied "Yes."  
"Are you okay?" She looked into Luna's eyes and saw her eyes slowly start to water, the light shimmered as tears slowly flowed.  
"I'm okay Mako."  
Makoto didn't buy that. "Luna, are you okay? Really?"  
After a moment of silence Luna lowered her head and surrendered. "Truth be told no. Not really."  
Still holding her hands Makoto clapped hers and Luna's hands together. "What's wrong?"  
Luna sighed "Well, I've been thinking about finding someone to be with. I've been feeling lonely for a while now and-" Luna sighed again "I think I've reached the time in my life to start finding love for myself."  
Makoto gasped, she never really thought Luna felt this way, living with Usagi and Mamoru even. "Oh wow, you've been lonely?"  
"Yes. I haven't seen a lot of the other girls for a long time now. Actually, to be honest Mako part of the reason I visited was really just to see you and catch up. I really missed doing that."  
"Oh." Makoto couldn't think of anything to say.  
"And honestly, living with Usagi and Mamoru, I want what they have - what you have with Ittou." Luna sighed a third time "Love. I'm missing love in my life."  
"Oh Luna." Makoto lowered her head so she could see Luna's face. "There's nothing to be ashamed of. Everyone experiences this at some point in their life." She smiled at Luna and Luna couldn't help but smile back, Makoto's face was so cute when she smiled. She then raised her head again and Luna followed her gaze. "I can help you with that you know. I can show you how to flirt and how to dress and dating, that sort of thing."  
"Oh." Luna was taken aback at this sudden interest Makoto had to her. She smiled back at Makoto. "Thank you Mako. I really do appreciate that."  
"Hey." Makoto grabbed onto Luna's shoulder and Luna blushed some more. "Let me tell you about last night." Makoto sat down next to Luna "Last night, not long after I told Usagi about Nari on the phone, I learned something about Ittou that I never knew before. It turned out that he used to follow me when I was Sailor Jupiter years ago and that he actually fell in love with her back then. I can't be sure since he's not here but I think Mamoru must have set us up with each other, and the rest is history." Luna grunted, she understood the nature of love to be complex but never so much so. "You see Luna; true love is a strange, very unpredictable force. You might find it in places you least expect it, in places that seem dangerous or uncomfortable, or in my case in the most mundane of circumstances - I mean all we tried to do was just talk like a regular couple, we uncovered some of our deepest secrets and in an instant we were totally different people, people we both wanted to be with years and years ago." Makoto smiled at Luna again. "Love is eternal Luna, but _true love_ is a precious thing that only a rare few couples ever get to experience. I'm a very lucky woman to be married to my true love. I'll help you find someone for you to love."  
"Thank you Mako." Luna felt warmth inside her heart; Makoto's friendship had been rekindled.  
"Oh!" Makoto just remembered, she quickly took you Star Power Stick out of her pocket and handed it to Luna. "Give this to Nari would you?"  
"Sure." Luna to the stick and got up to see Nari again.

At the lounge, watching Makoto and Luna walk off Usagi and Chibiusa were talking amongst themselves. "I wonder why Luna wants to help out Mako." Chibiusa whispered.  
"I can't be sure Chibi but I think Luna misses her." Usagi whispered back. Nari was at the other side of the lounge and couldn't hear them; she thought they were talking about her - especially since they _are_ here to visit her.  
After a moment of quiet deliberation Nari chose to clear her throat. "Huhmm!"  
The two women looked at Nari and realized that she was still there. "Oh! Sorry Nari." Usagi said nervously "We forgot you were here."  
Chibiusa looked back at her mother. "Maybe you did!"  
"Hey!" Usagi protested. The two bickered some more and Nari began to laugh, watching her godmother and Chibiusa fight always made her laugh. After a moment they noticed Nari laughing her head off and stopped again. "Maybe we should talk to Nari now."  
Chibiusa laughed nervously "Yeah, let's stop fighting." They both looked at Nari as she finished laughing at them, slowly giggling before stopping entirely.  
"Okay." Usagi began "Now that we've got that out of the way, Nari-" Usagi sighed "How are you today?"  
Thrown by the very ordinary question Nari took a second to reply back. "Uh, I'm okay Auntie Usagi. How are you?"  
"I'm good, thank you. Your mother told me that yesterday you and her bonded a lot, how was that?"  
Nari sighed and smiled "Yes, it was such a weird day." Chibiusa chuckled a little but Nari didn't notice. "I was just reading your book here, listening to music, when mother came downstairs and called me up to her room. We went up and sat down on her bed, and we started talking about her and being Sailor Jupiter." A thought just crossed her mind. "Hey, did you guys know about her?"  
Chibiusa laughed and Usagi replied. "Really? You think we'd miss something like that?" She was chuckling herself.  
"Oh yeah." Nari felt stupid but she didn't really care. "Anyway, she was talking about being Sailor Jupiter and stuff-" Her demeanour suddenly changed "And then she showed me her cool stick and I touched it and light started coming out of my head. It was so weird and so cool." As she described the day's events Chibiusa's jaw dropped, she wasn't really expecting that kind of a response.  
Usagi nodded along and said to Nari "I see. So you saw the Symbol of Jupiter right?"  
"Oh, how did you know?" Nari asked.  
"You mother sent me a text earlier this morning. We've been talking about you since last night Nari."  
"Oh, okay." Nari smiled and Usagi smiled back at her.  
"How do you feel about being a Sailor Scout though?" Chibiusa interrupted.  
Nari's smile dropped and she sighed. "Well I'm pretty scared. I don't like fighting in school so I don't know how I'm going to fight baddies."  
Usagi kept on nodding; she knew exactly how Nari felt. "I totally understand Nari. When I became Sailor Moon I was just like you, I really didn't want to fight anyone and I have to admit at the start I was very bad at what I did." Usagi then paused, she decided to get up and walk over to Nari, sitting down beside her. "It takes time to get used to it, all the fighting." She sighed and held her knee "It never goes away; no matter how hard you try you'll always want to not fight. As a heroine my first thought was always 'Why do I have to fight? Why can't we just stop fighting?' It's that part of you that you shouldn't lose, but never let take over either." She looked down at Nari and smiled at her, she really could see herself in her.  
Nari smiled back and said "Mother actually told me a great saying about courage." She turned around to face Usagi directly "True courage doesn't come from being fearless. Facing your fears and beating them makes you courageous."  
Usagi chuckled "I'm pretty sure that's not how it goes." She stroked Nari's long blonde hair and smiled. "But I like it." Nari chuckled back and the two were beaming.

Luna entered the lounge room, holding the Star Power Stick and walked up to Nari. "Nari, can I ask how old are you?"  
"Fourteen."  
"Oh my. Did you know your mother was the same age when she became Sailor Jupiter?"  
"Yes, she told me yesterday." Nari smiled and Luna smiled back. Everyone was in such a happy mood.  
Luna then handed Nari the stick "Let's see what happens when I give you the stick."  
Everyone else laughed and chuckled. "Luna, she knows what will happen, we all know what will happen."  
Luna was surprised to hear this and chuckled nervously. "Ehehehe, yes okay. Well your mother wants you to have this anyway." She handed Nari the stick and Nari took it without hesitation. Once again the Symbol of Jupiter appeared on her forehead, gleaming in green light. But this time Nari wasn't afraid anymore, she knew what was happening and was not at all surprised to feel the heat from her head again. Everyone else looked back in awe; it was such a long time for any of them to see something like this. Luna was awestruck most of all; this girl that she only known for less than an hour would become one of the heroes of the world. "Okay Nari, stand up for us please." Nari promptly stood up from her seat. "Okay, hold up the stick above you and shout Jupiter Star Power, Make Up!" With her right hand Nari stretched out her arm as far as she could over her head and, after a few seconds of psyching herself up she took a deep breath and shouted **_"JUPITER STAR POWER, MAKE UP!"_**

Nothing happened. The stick didn't charge up power nor fire electricity, nothing happened. Everyone was shocked, _why didn't it work_ ; they all though. Luna on the other hand was not so surprised, although she was concerned. "Hm. Interesting. May I?" She reached out to Nari and Nari handed Luna the stick back. Luna took a moment to examine the stick, nothing was wrong nor out of place. "Hm. Try again." She handed the stick back to Nari. "Try to muster all of your strength in your diaphragm and channel it through you. Your shout will become much more powerful." Nari didn't really understand what she said but she decided to psych herself up much longer this time, after about ten seconds she tries again. **_"JUPITER STAR POWER, MAKE UP!"_** She was definitely louder, Makoto heard her clearly from the kitchen over the clatter of the noise, but to no avail.  
"Hey keep it down guys." She shouted from the kitchen, and hearing that everyone sighed loudly.  
"Hm." Luna was thinking that she needed a new item. "Okay. Give me the stick Nari. I think that is the wrong item for you." She again placed her open hand to Nari and again Nari obliged. Luna then placed the stick onto the table in the middle of the room. "Okay Nari. Please place your hands in front of you." Hesitantly Nari did so. "Don't worry, this won't hurt." Luna grabbed a hold of Nari's wrists and turned her hands upward. "I'm going to place my hands onto yours. I want you to concentrate as hard as you can on the power of Jupiter, I will do the same. We may be able to summon for you a new item just for you." Usagi and Chibusa gasped, they had no idea Luna had this power. In truth though this should have been obvious, in the past Luna had indeed summoned items for them, but never as a human. With her hands in Nari's Luna guided Nari through the process. "Okay, close your eyes and concentrate." Nari did so; she cleared her mind of everything and focused solely on the power of Jupiter, nothing else was in her mind. Luna was concentrating on her power to summon items into her hands and to channel Nari's thoughts into physical form. After a few seconds light started to appear in Nari's right hand, the pure white light clumped together to form a new stick, similar to the Star Power Stick, but this was something else. Nari felt a little pain as the light continued to build. "Don't waver Nari. Keep going." Luna encouraged her to continue. Everyone else was stunned at the sight, what looked like the formation of an entirely new object. The light built up to its peak and then it exploded in light, the entire room shone an intensely white light for a second. After the light died down they all saw it, in Nari's right hand a new stick never seen before by anyone - except Luna, she saw the stick and was gobsmacked, she gasped seeing it and stepped back a couple of paces.  
"Luna, are you alright?" Usagi asked.  
"Tha-that's the ancient stick!" Luna exclaimed, pointing at the stick. "That's the ancient Power Stick from thousands of years ago!"  
"The ancient stick?" Chibiusa interjected.  
"Nari." Luna was breathing heavier than usual, clearly affected by the gravity of the weapon Nari now possesses. "That there is one of the most _powerful_ items from the Moon Kingdom. It is the transformation stick that was the _progenitor_ to _every other transformation item_ the Sailor Scouts _ever_ used." Nari looked down at it; it looked similar to her mother's Star Power Stick in that it was a green metal stick with a great deal of gold trimming, but it was totally different - instead of a golden star the symbol was a golden three-dimensional lightning bolt, there was no Symbol of Jupiter on the rod, instead the rod was flush with gold lightning bolts along the handle of the stick. "Nari that is the Lightning Power Stick. Sailor Jupiter's _first_ transformation item."  
How old is that stick?" Usagi asked another question.  
Luna turned to Usagi and said "Somewhere between two and three and a half thousand years old." Everyone gasped, even Nari who had no real idea what was going on. "I'm sorry guys but I can't help you at this point. The information on the Lightning Power Stick and all the other ancient sticks are gone, lost to history." No one knew what to do, but strangely Nari decided to try to transform. She held up the stick like she did before. "Wait Nari, what are you doing?"  
In no time at all she took a deep breath and shouted **_"JUPITER LIGHTNING POWER, MAKE UP!"_**

The stick began to build up energy as the other had done before and in a flash the stick discharged its energy. Unlike the Star Power Stick however the energy didn't release onto Nari's body, instead the lightning shot above and struck her from over her head, raining electricity all over Nari's body. The surge of energy compelled Nari to stretch out her arms and legs, covering her entire body with the power of Jupiter. The electricity surged all around Nari's body, her chest, her arms and legs. Everyone was shocked at what they were seeing; the power of the stick was beyond anything anyone ever imagined. The noise and the light were so powerful that Makoto simply had to get out of the kitchen and work out what the commotion was. "Hey guys, what's goi-" She saw her daughter transform and simply stopped, her eyes widened and she gasped as her jaw dropped. Then as the storm was reaching its climax **_CRACK!_** Thunder struck again. Just like Sailor Jupiter before her the energy vanished and in its place was Sailor Jupiter's uniform, sort of. Much of Makoto's uniform is there, but subtle changes and differences could be found all over; starting at her feet Nari's boots were the same as her mother's - small green heeled boots, laced and up to her ankle. Her skirt was longer than her mother's, it was a dark green skirt that went down to Nari's knees, also behind her was her back bow - a bright green bow, very unlike her mother's pink bow. Her leotard was exactly the same, pure white covering her entire torso. Her gloves were much shorter than her mother's, only covering her hands, but they were similar in appearance in that they were also white and had a dark green trim around the ends. However it was Nari's chest where the most difference can be found, the ensemble of clothing was similar in that it featured a bow tie and a sailor's collar held together by a brooch; however all of it was different. The bow tie was dark green instead of bright green colour like her back bow. Her collar was similar to her mother's in that it too was dark green with white borders, however woven into the collar was a golden thread and on either side of the collar were large golden lightning bolts. The bow, the collar, the lightning bolts, all the focal points pointed to the brooch in the middle of Nari's chest, it was a polished bright green sphere and on the front of it a golden leaf Symbol of Jupiter shimmered in the light. Nari's face was the last to be transformed, again like her mother a tiara and earrings were formed, but unlike her mother Nari wore golden drop earrings that featured gold lightning bolts on either side. Lastly her tiara was very similar to Makoto's in that it too was golden and featured a shining emerald in the centre, however as well as that the gold had an embossed design. It was hard to see past Nari's bangs and fringe but the gold also featured lightning bolts on either side of her tiara. However the biggest change was yet to come, with her arms still outstretched the Lighting Power Stick began to change, all of a sudden the stick was glowing white light and it began to grow and grow and grow and grow. The stick became so long it was practically a staff, then the light disappeared and revealed the stick was no longer just a stick, it was a shining gold spear at both ends, shaped to look like one very long, very large lightning bolt for Nari to hold at all times, and if that weren't enough the gold was electrified, discharging and arching all over the blade. Once the transformation was complete Nari threw her pose, she kicked out her left leg and stretched out her left hand in front of her, with the Lighting Power Stick in hand her right hand was behind her, holding the great spear over her head, ironically she mimicked her own mother's stance but with the spear she was more threatening and menacing than Makoto.  
She was the Goddess of Lightning herself.

Once everything had stopped and the light and the noise disappeared everyone was frozen; Usagi had witnessed the greatest spectacle she had ever seen, _ever_ seen. Chibiusa marvelled at the sight of her newest partner's transformation. Luna was dumbstruck at the sheer power of the Lightning Power Stick. Makoto was so close to crying she couldn't stop shaking, she even stopped breathing for a few seconds, absorbing the image of her own daughter as a Sailor Scout. But none were more affected by the transformation than Nari herself, the influx of energy was so powerful, so painful, and so immense that she could hardly feel anything, she never thought to do anything at all, and she simply moved and acted naturally without thinking about what she was actually doing. From the moment she cried out her transformation phrase to the moment she struck her pose everything was automatic, as if she knew exactly what she was doing. Once the energy had disappeared and everything returned to normal Nari had no strength left, she fell immediately to the floor and everyone sprang into action. Grief stricken Makoto shouted **_"NARI!"_** She dived straight to her poor child; she had fainted and was unconscious. **_"GET SOME WATER!"_** She screamed to the others and Luna quickly darted to the kitchen. Usagi jumped up to help Makoto pull Nari onto the couch; they dragged her limp body up and seated her onto where she was last.  
Nari had just begun to regain consciousness when Luna hurried back with a glass of water. "Mummy." She whispered so weakly.  
Luna came right up to Nari and tipped the water down her open mouth. "Drink this Nari." She had just enough energy to drink the cold liquid, coughing up only a little by the end.  
Makoto patted Nari's back to get the last of the drink down. "How are you feeling Nari?"  
She was breathing so heavily Nari was practically rasping for air. "I-I'm fine-huh-now." She was unable to reply without catching her breath.  
"Nari." Usagi was catching her attention. "Have you seen yourself yet?" Nari turned to Usagi and slowly shook her head. "Have a look." Nari looked down to see her uniform, white and green with specks of gold were all over her. She looked at her hands to see her gloves. "You're a Sailor Scout." Nari's eyes became wider and wider and she started to cry in sheer delight. She hugged Usagi and they both began the cry, Makoto joined in, hugging Nari as well, and the trio were all overcome with emotion.  
Chibiusa stood up and met Luna right beside the three girls; she turned to Luna and whispered under all the crying "That's Sailor Jupiter."  
Luna nodded and replied back "It's incredible to see that power in such a young girl." Chibiusa also nodded back but Luna wasn't done yet. "I can't believe that she can wield the Lightning Power Stick. She can barely transform without fainting."  
"She's just overloaded from the experience of transforming."  
"I hope so Chibi, because that stick isn't just a transformation stick," Chibiusa turned to Luna. "It's not just weapon, it is the _raw power_ of Jupiter. It and by extension Nari is the master of lightning."  
"What do you mean Luna?"  
"As of this moment, right now, Nari Asanuma is not Sailor Jupiter, the Sailor Scout of Lightning; she is Sailor Jupiter, the _Goddess_ of Lightning." Chibiusa gasped and her eyes glistened in the light. "Her power is unrivalled." The two women looked back and Nari, the happy teenager draped with her mother and her godmother clinging to her, rocking her slowly as they all came to terms with Nari being a Sailor Scout. No one would know it now but Nari's true power was about to reveal itself.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 - Proving Ground

The sun was setting at the Hikawa Shrine and everyone from Makoto's house drove down to visit Rei at the shrine, although she wasn't at all pleased with what they were planning. "What do you mean 'you want to make this place a training ground?!'"  
"Look Rei." Usagi explained "We're going to need somewhere for the new scouts to train, so I thought the shrine was the perfect place to train up and teach them."  
"Well yeah I don't mind that, but how are we going to fit everyone in here?"  
"What do you mean?" Chibiusa asked  
"Well, with all of the old Sailor Scouts - that's ten, add the new Sailor Scouts - another eight, plus two Tuxedo Masks - that's another two. So that's-" Rei took a moment to add up. "AH! Twenty people! I haven't had so many people in a long time!"  
"No Rei it will just be us;" Usagi continued to explain the plan "You, me and Chibiusa, Mako with Nari, and then Setsuna with whoever the next scout is." Usagi had a hunch one of Setsuna's twin daughters will end up being Sailor Pluto - maybe even Puruto herself; the new Sailor Moon is Usagi's daughter, the new Sailor Jupiter is Makoto's daughter, the logic fits perfectly, but with Nari as this entirely new Sailor Scout no one really knows what to expect anymore. "That's all." Rei sighed, she was thinking about Natsu and her prospect as a Sailor Scout. Rei's entire demeanour had started to change, up until now she was broken by her divorce with Yuuichirou and the death of Grandpa Hino, the foundations of her life had been disintegrated by betrayal and violence. However today she was noticeably chatty and Usagi distinctly saw a smile from her at one point. _Something must have happened to Rei_ , Usagi thought; _she seems to be more confident now._  
Eventually Rei responded "Okay, that seems fine to me." She even smiled again.  
Usagi smiled back at her. "Great! Thanks for letting us use your shrine Rei." Something has definitely changed Rei for the better, Usagi continued to think.

At the back of the shrine Makoto and Nari were strolling in the garden, taking in the pristine scenery - the setting sun washing the sky in a golden haze in a forest of Saruka. Nari breathed in the fresh air deeply and sighed. "This shrine is so peaceful. Did you really go here a lot?"  
"Yeah." Makoto looked off into the distance. "I know the shrine maiden and she's a really nice person, well most of the time. Anyway she was Sailor Mars years ago too."  
"Oh wow. Does she have a daughter too?"  
"Yeah, but she lives abroad so Usagi needs to find her again."  
Nari was surprised hearing this. "Oh. Why is she not here?"  
Makoto sighed "Well, it's a long story. And a sad one." Makoto looked at her daughter and Nari looked back to her mother. "I don't want to make you sad today. You are a Sailor Scout now, enjoy your youth." Makoto smiled at Nari and began to stroke her blonde hair.  
Nari looked back at the trees and the golden air. "I love it here; I'll come to this shrine after school."  
Makoto laughed "That's good to hear, this shrine always helped me calm down after a long day, I think this place will do you some good." The two reached the end of the garden and came back around to meet Luna who waiting for them, sitting on a bench between buildings. Luna left Makoto with her daughter to give them the opportunity to bond some more. The tranquillity of the shrine and the colours of the sky compelled Luna to meditate for a while and calm herself, perhaps to make her less timid and shy. Luna was just sitting be herself, being, as Makoto and Nari walked up and joined her. "Hi Luna." For a second nothing happened, Luna continued to stare into the middle distance and observe the trees rustling in the wind, Makoto and Nari were both looking at Luna spacing out.  
"Huh." Luna finally noticed the two girls and turned to them. "Oh hi." Luna smiled.  
"Wow Luna, it really looked like you were zoning out there." Makoto said.  
"Oh yes, I thought I'd try to mediate a little." Luna turned back to watch the trees again. "It's been such a long time since I was here, and the garden is really peaceful. It's so easy to just sit and be."  
Luna started to mediate again but Makoto wanted to spend some time with her. "Hey Nari, go join the others at the front of the shrine."  
"Okay. See you Luna." Nari said as she waved goodbye and ran off.  
"Bye Nari." Luna waved back and smiled as she passed by. As Makoto walked over to sit beside her Luna sighed. "You really do have a lovely daughter Mako. Someday I'd like to have a son or a daughter of my own."  
"Yeah." Makoto smiled at Nari in the distance. "She's a great kid." She sighed "I just wish she was more confident around boys."  
"Oh?"  
Makoto turned to Luna "She's a bright young girl, top in her class in mathematics and science, and she has friends, but I wish she could open up some more, especially around guys."  
"Hm." Luna took a moment to think. She really wasn't the best person to talk to about confidence, she herself had to meditate because of all the embarrassment she suffered earlier today, but Luna shares Usagi's desire to help wherever she can. "Can I ask how did she meet her friends?"  
"Oh, well she met them in class. They were study friends and when they did assignments together they finish it quickly and spend the rest of the day chatting, and they became friends. Nari has a few study friends now and they all hang out and have fun together."  
"Hm. Maybe she needs to find a boy who can challenge her academically." Luna suggested.  
Makoto sighed "I've tried that. Nari is just too shy, she gets very flustered around boys she likes, and there are a lot of them."  
"Hm." Luna grunted "Well I'm not really sure what to tell you Mako." She then leaned over to see Nari in the distance with the others. "But I think with Nari being a Sailor Scout she may open up much more. I recall you had a similar problem before you were Sailor Jupiter."  
Makoto nodded along to Luna's observation. "Yes, you're right." She then stood up "Come on, let's meet up with the others." Luna stood up and the two women walked off to join the rest of the group.

Running over to Auntie Usagi Nari joined the other group of women at the front of the shrine. "Usagi!" She waved to her godmother to draw her attention.  
Usagi and Rei were still chatting but Chibiusa heard her and reacted. "Hey Nari."  
The others then did the same "Oh hi Nari, come join us." Usagi called her over. As soon as Nari joined the group Usagi introduced her to Rei. "Nari, this is Rei, she is the maiden to this shrine."  
Nari saw Rei in her miko robes and was taken by her beauty. "Oh wow, you're so pretty." She chuckled.  
Her comment made Rei blush and she smiled. "Aw, thank you." Nari actually made Rei giggle. "Hey, do you want to know a secret?"  
"Okay."  
Rei leaned into Nari's ear and whispered "I used to be Sailor Mars." She giggled some more and Nari gasped, even though she already knew that.  
"Oh wow, you must have fought with my mother!" Nari blurted out.  
Rei laughed and the others joined in after her. "Sure did. She did most of the fighting really."  
"Mako was a pretty tough fighter back in the day." Usagi added "Very aggressive and really strong."  
"Yeah, but Luna said you might be stronger." Chibiusa addressed Nari.  
Usagi and Rei both turned to her and gasped. "Seriously?!" Usagi asked.  
Chibiusa nodded "Luna said she is the Goddess of Lightning. That's a direct quote! Nari's power is unbeatable."  
"No way!" Usagi couldn't believe it, this polite young girl is _more_ powerful than her rough and tumble mother?  
Nari was dumbfounded, she doesn't have an aggressive bone in her body, _how can I be stronger than her mother_ , she thought. "I am?"  
"That's what she told me." Chibiusa shrugged. "Apparently the stick you have is the origin of Sailor Jupiter's power. Nari, you possess the raw power of Jupiter."  
Nari still couldn't believe it; she reached into the right side pocket of her coat to pull out the Lightning Power Stick. This small metal rod seems to be changing her destiny right before her eyes and in ways she simply cannot understand right now.  
Makoto and Luna joined the group and they both noticed Nari with the Lightning Power Stick. "Hey guys. Nari, playing with your new toy already?" Makoto asked.  
"Oh hi mother." Nari waved at the two "No, I'm just thinking about what this means for me, being a Sailor Scout and all."  
"Oh yeah, one of the things you'll discover is that you'll actually have a lot alike with the other scouts. For example Usagi and I both love to romance guys with our cooking, even though I'm better at it."  
"Hey!" Usagi whined as Makoto laughed and poked her side.  
"Yeah, and me and Mako both have pretty aggressive personalities." Rei then started to laugh as well.  
"But most of all Nari-" Usagi concluded "You'll find that you, Chibiusa and every other Sailor Scout will be good friends to each other and make each other happy." She then brought Rei and Makoto beside her and they all held each other. "We all have become great friends to each other and we wouldn't change a thing." They all smiled and exuded sheer delight by merely being with each other.  
Nari smiled at the women and the friendship they cultivated with each other, but then I though run through her head. "Wait. Chibiusa? What do you mean?"  
"Oh I'm sorry." Usagi explained "I completely forgot to tell you, Chibi is Sailor Moon. She's going to lead you and the scouts this time."  
Nari turned to Chibiusa and Chibiusa waved back to her. "Heya!"  
"Really? You're Sailor Moon this time?"  
"Yep!" Chibiusa nodded and she pointed at her Crystal Star locket. "This was the locket mother used to transform into Sailor Moon, now I have the locket and I transform into Sailor Moon."  
"Wow, that's so cool!" Nari beamed. Auntie Usagi was her favourite relative, but she had the most fun playing with Chibiusa, even though she was more than twice Nari's age. Whenever she had any free time in between artworks and exhibition openings Chibiusa would also visit Nari to have fun and play. Really Makoto's and Usagi's families are the most tightly knit amongst the scouts, others relationships like Ami's and Minako's families, and Ami's and Hotaru's families are close but nowhere near as friendly or tightly bonded than that of Makoto and Usagi.  
Chibiusa sighed "I guess we better get started sooner or later. Come with me Nari, we need to start training you to fight." She gestured Nari to come to her and hesitantly Nari did so, walking past the old scouts to join Chibiusa and Luna into the courtyard. In the meantime the women decided to chat amongst themselves and move to inside on the buildings.

* * *

Opening the door Rei invited Usagi and Makoto to a pot of tea. "Take a seat guys." By a traditional table Usagi, Makoto and Rei all knelt down onto cushions and drank their tea. "So Mako, your daughter is a Sailor Scout?"  
"Yeah Rei." Makoto drank her tea in between chatting. "You should have seen it. She has her own uniform, and wow, her power stick is _so_ much better than my crummy one." She drank even more tea. "I'm actually jealous of my own daughter!" Makoto chuckled.  
"Wow that sounds really huge." Rei replied "I'm sorry I missed it."  
"Hm." Usagi grunted, drinking her tea in the process. "Mako nearly did miss it herself; I got to see her transform. It was amazing! It was totally different to Mako's transformation."  
"It was?" Makoto asked.  
"Oh yeah. It was a lot more flamboyant, the lightning shot straight down over top of top of her and the electricity sparked all over her body. It was much more dramatic than yours Mako."  
"Wow, I only saw her uniform." Makoto gasped "That's sounds amazing."  
"It really was." Usagi continued to drink her tea, everyone else continued to do so, but then Usagi had a thought. "Rei, can I ask you something?"  
"Sure."  
"I've noticed you've been very happy today; you're smiling, chatting, even laughing now. I gotta ask, what's happened?"  
Rei was surprised; she didn't realize just how much her attitude had changed. "Huh? What do you mean?"  
"I mean you sound so much more positive than you usually are, honestly I haven't seen this side of you in years. _Something_ must have happened yesterday, what was it?" Rei giggled to herself and Usagi pointed at her. "That right there! You giggled."  
Rei drank another sip of tea before finally explaining herself. "Well, I just learned some pretty incredible news. I know you haven't left Japan yet Usagi, but I already know that my daughter happens to be Sailor Mars." Usagi and Makoto both gasped, they were dumbstruck; _how could Rei possibly know that_ , they both thought. Rei saw them both and was confused herself. "What's wrong?"  
"Rei, how do you know that?!" Makoto asked.  
"I used the fires." Rei said quite bluntly. The other girls were still confused; they knew that ever since Rei discovered her own grandfather's death she swore off consulting the sacred fire, her faith had died the day Grandpa Hino had died. Hearing that Rei actually revived her practice was astounding.  
"Wow, so you saw her in the fire?" Usagi asked.  
Rei slowly nodded "Yes, I saw Natsu through the flames, and I saw her as Sailor Mars. The fire roared when I completed the prayer and there she was; this towering giant in the shrine." Rei sighed "I want to find my daughter Usagi. I want to see her and try to reconnect with her."  
Usagi began to smile "Does that mean you'll come with me to Sydney?"  
Rei gasped quickly at the question and immediately changed her demeanour to her usual stoic self. "No, I don't want to be anywhere near Yuuichirou. I'm not going to Sydney." She sighed "I _will_ go to Melbourne and meet you there; if you can find Natsu and bring her with you I would be so happy."  
Usagi nodded slowly herself "We will Rei." Then they all heard a loud crackling from outside, the ground even shook for a moment. They all held on the table. "What was that?!" Usagi asked. They all got up and quickly exited the room.

* * *

Nari and Chibiusa both entered a large empty courtyard paved with stone; it was just an ordinary courtyard between buildings. They both faced each other in the middle of the courtyard, preparing to spar, while Luna climbed onto a wooden deck beside the courtyard along one of the buildings. Luna would adjudicate "Okay, let's start with some basic hand to hand combat."  
Chibiusa assumed her fighting stance as she directed Nari. "Okay Nari, take off the coat and let's begin." Luna began to walk up to Nari as she took off the large grey trench coat she was given by her mother. Nari wore the coat because everyone, including Nari, thought it was best not to alert the public that the Sailor Scouts are coming back just yet. Taking off the coat she revealed her Sailor Scout uniform, handing Luna the coat she rummaged around a deep pocket to pull out her tiara and the Lightning Power Stick. In the time it took for everyone to arrive at the shrine they already discovered that the electrified blades were independently retractable, each blade could vanish into the hilt of the spear. Nari gave Luna the stick and she promptly returned to her position by the sidelines. Chibiusa stretched for a moment as Nari prepared herself, wearing her tiara. "Okay. Let's begin with some basic attacks." Chibiusa sighed "Go on, hit me with your best shot."  
"What?" Nari uttered. Chibusa is one of her very best friends, now she's asking her to _hit_ her? Point blank?  
Chibiusa relaxed for a moment and sighed "Nari, you're going to have to learn how to fight and for now that means you have to strike me, now please-" Chibusa resumed her stance. "Fight me." Nari needed to steel herself, she was about to do something she never thought she would ever do. Nari clinched her fist and wound up, throwing a right punch straight at Chibiusa's face. But Nari was too predictable, just as quickly did Nari throw her first punch Chibusa blocked the attack, Nari's fist locking into Chibiusa's palm. Nari and Chibiusa sighed; Nari was relieved she didn't get to hurt her dear friend, Chibiusa was just glad Nari finally tried to attack. "Okay. Well at least you understand how to throw a punch." Chibusa let go of Nari's fist and they both relaxed. "Now you just need to know how to throw a punch _well_. Relax for now." Chibiusa gestured at Nari to lower her stance and she did so. "What you want to do is as you lift your fist you pull back as well." She then demonstrated this by moving her right arm slowly and in a way that shows Nari how to move. "So by the time you have raised your arm your fist is ready to spring out instantly." Nari nodded along to Chibiusa's explanation. "Now then-" Again Chibiusa returned to her battle stance. "You try it." Nari also resumed her battle stance, she visualized herself repeating Chibiusa's movements, and then after just a few seconds Nari did so - she quickly lifted and pulled back her right arm and launched it straight at Chibiusa's head again. Again Chibiusa knew Nari would throw a right punch, after all she knows that Nari's right is her dominant side, so again she blocked the blow with her left palm, but this time she felt pain - real pain in her hand. She knew she felt the full force of Nari's power. "That's much better." She said, releasing her grip on Nari's hand. "Okay, now do a combo. Three consecutive blows." This was considerably more difficult for Nari, this required planning. Nari took a few seconds to work out exactly how she wanted to fight, again seeing her movements in her mind. Then she prepared to fight, in quick succession Nari threw a simple right-left, Chibiusa blocked each of the two punches easily, but then Nari pulled a right hook and caught Chibiusa completely by surprise. Nari was nanoseconds away from landing a blow, but Chibiusa's quick thinking changed her block and she was able to stop the punch from connecting to her head, however by blocking the punch the force was still enough for Nari to press Chibiusa's hand onto her cheek.  
Nari could not believe how close she was to hitting her very best friend, her expression changed from the anger that fuelled her attack to grief at what she very nearly done. Nari shrieked in fear "Oh my god! Are you okay Chibi?!"  
Chibiusa chuckled and relieved Nari's stress. "I'm fine Nari, you really didn't get me." She let go of Nari's fist and Nari quickly recoiled away from her, still in shock. "A hook! I didn't see that one coming." Chibiusa saw the concern in Nari's eyes and reassured her. "Nari, it's okay. Do you know what that means?" Nari shook her head. "It means you're finding your fight style, you're becoming less predictable right now." Chibusa smiled and after a few seconds of processing all that happened Nari decided to smile as well, she's just relieved she didn't hurt her friend. Chibiusa sighed "I think we can skip kicks for now." She turned and slowly walked up to Luna, presenting her hand. "The stick please."  
"Really?" Luna asked "So soon?"  
"She'll need to learn sooner rather than later." Chibiusa explained and Luna then handed her the Lightning Power Stick, Chibiusa pressed down on the golden lightning bolt and instantly the golden blades unsheathed from the hilt, once again glistening in the light from the electricity arcing all over the blades. Chibiusa then returned to Nari and handed her the spear. "Okay Nari, now we're going to work out your special attacks. These are the attacks you use with any of your weapons." She pointed at the spear and Nari looked at her golden spear, wondering how exactly to use it. "Just like the transformation phrase each of your special attacks requires a phrase to chant in order to use. Try it out."  
Nari took a moment to work out what to do; _a spear like this_ , she thought, _with so much electricity running through it, it would need to discharge somehow. And a lot of energy would be needed to spark the discharge._ It took her no time at all to work out she needed to slam the tip of the spear straight into the ground. _But what to say_ , she continued. Many words and terms ran though her head; lightning, thunder, electric, shocking - after a while she held the spear as high as she could and shouted **_"SUPREME THUNDER."_** She went with the most obvious answer, mimicking her mother. She then slammed the spear down as she yelled **_"CRASH!"_** The spear cut through the stone and dug into the ground, but nothing else happened. No elaborate discharge nor electricity arcing anywhere in particular, nothing really happened. "Hm." Nari grunted, that wasn't it, she thought. So it _has_ to be different. She thought intensely about what it could be; _if it were about slamming the spear into the ground there would have to be a large area to disperse the electricity, that means the attack would cover a large area around me, that means the phrase would be something like-._ She again raised her spear and shouted **_"SHOCK WAVE."_** and though the spear down into the ground. **_"CRASH!"_** Again nothing happened, but Nari knew exactly why. She quickly reset her stance and shouted **_"SHOCKING WAVE."_** This time the blades began to build up energy, sparking and fizzing all along the gold. _JACKPOT_ , she thought. **_"CRASH!"_** As soon as she struck the ground a massive surge of electricity was sent into the earth and spread all along the ground, equidistant and constantly moving outward. It was a wave of electricity moving out to cover a field.  
 **"JUMP CHIBI!"** Luna screamed, but Chibiusa had other ideas, she quickly run out of the way of the ever encroaching band of electric energy. The shock wave was moving so fast Chibusa was barely able to stay ahead of it. The ring of electricity continued to push further out, becoming dangerously close to Luna and Chibiusa. Luna took no time when the sparks reached her; she jumped over and cleared the band as they crossed over the wooden deck. Still running Chibiusa finally realized she too could clear the ring of energy. She immediately stopped and using all the energy she would have used to run further Chibiusa instead jumped backwards as the ring of lightning travelled further out. Luna saw Chibiusa and inquired "Are you alright Chibi?"  
Chibiusa sighed, wiping the sweat off her brows. "Yeah I'm fine, but how far does this thing travel?" They all watched as the ring continued onward for a few more seconds before finally disappearing into the ground. Everyone sighed and Chibiusa turned about to walk back to Nari.

Rei, Makoto and Usagi all leapt out of the room to find out what had happened, running up to the courtyard. By the time everyone had met the electricity disappeared and Chibiusa was walking back, they all reached Luna at the deck and Rei asked "What happened?"  
"Are we under attack?" Makoto added.  
Luna shook her head "No Mako, we're fine. In fact we just saw one of Nari's special attacks." Nari was still by the spear, still buried into the ground. She had the idea to attack this way but could never have predicted what happened next. Nari - a quiet, polite, young schoolgirl - just channelled the power of Jupiter to attack the very earth she stood upon and spread its tremendous power outwards. Nari was panting beside her spear, despite the great deal of effort she put into the attack she was still coursing with energy. "Shocking Wave-" Luna explained "A ring of electricity spreads over the ground. Anyone who touches it is paralysed and is dealt the full force of the power of Jupiter." Luna turned to the women beside her "At least that's what the legends say. I've never seen anyone do that before myself." Luna then looked directly at Makoto. "Mako, Nari is still trying to find her inner strength, but today Chibiusa and I just witnessed your daughter's true power for a brief moment." Makoto gasped as Luna continued. "Nari is going to be a fine Sailor Scout. She is well on the way to surpassing you." Makoto slowly began to smile at Luna, and then the smile turned into a grin. Makoto did worry about her little girl as a Sailor Scout; no right-minded mother would _not_ want to protect their children. Makoto turned to see Nari, still beside the spear, still panting - still trying to transcend the experience. All of a sudden she wasn't worried anymore, _Nari is absolutely the best one to be Sailor Jupiter_ , she thought. Makoto walked over to her daughter and just stood there for a second; she saw Nari's eyes shimmer in the light of the red sky, and she started to cry. Looking back at her mother Nari also began to cry, she let go of her spear and it feel straight onto the ground. The two hugged each other tightly and cried together, tears of joy, the comfort only a mother can truly provide.


	11. Chapter 10

Two cycles have passed in the Negaverse and inside the scientific building General Tsajei was inside a darkened room with a scientist, they were both observing another Nitrogen test on another alien, this time he was a free citizen of the Negaverse - a volunteer who was prepared to die for the greater good of the empire. Once again gas seeped through the invisible vents and unlike the slaves and aliens before him he was calm and ready. The gas continued to flood the room although this time, unlike any of the other test subjects there wasn't an immediate reaction; the man seemed unaffected by the gas. "Hm." Tsajei grunted, he saw for the first time the marvels of biological manipulation and smirked. "Perhaps there is a use for science in war." He heckled. The professor took no notice of the General's barb, focusing on the test subject and his reactions. The citizen was still sitting on his seat, thinking to himself he may be the first person in the Negaverse to overcome Nitrogen Inhalation.  
Two minutes had passed before the subject coughed. The scientist slammed his fist onto the desk in front of them. "He's going to die!"  
Tsajei was taken by surprise at the sudden and violent outburst. "Calm down, professor. We don't know that yet."  
"Yes I do." the professor said. "Every test subject that coughs dies in the end." They could now both hear the citizen beginning to cough much more.  
Tsajei turned back to the professor "Has anyone survived these tests?"  
The professor's head was slumped over the desk, listening to the subject slowly losing his life, one strained cough at a time. "No. No one has survived our trials." He raised his head to see the test subject now coughing uncontrollably. "We're closing in on what we need to breathe in a Nitrogen rich atmosphere, but right now we can only do it for about half of one section." The professor began to shake his head "Not even close to _half_ of a cycle, never mind a _full_ cycle."  
General Tsajei turned to face the professor directly. "You told the Council that you were close to defeating Nitrogen Inhalation."  
"We are!" The scientist snapped back "Of all the tests we conducted he-" He pointed to the man currently beginning to choke on the gas. "Is the closest we have ever reached to that goal. We know that the drug AN46I-5 is close to the approximate formula we need to achieve this, we just need the time to develop it further."  
Tsajei was unaffected; he took no interest in the plight of the scientists. "I don't much care for your obstinacy. We have a battle strategy that relies on _your_ ability to overcome the toxic gas; we need to launch our invasion as soon as possible."  
"And shouting will not speed up the process in the slightest!" The professor raised his voice; he too turned to the General and stood up straight, trying to match the General's posture. "You cannot speed up progress; you can only invest more into it."  
Tsajei smirked "My my, someone finally grew a backbone." He took one small step to close the gap between the two men. "You will develop a drug that will combat Nitrogen Inhalation by the end of the next cycle in whic-"  
"The _next cycle_?!" the professor shrieked.  
"Yes. In which you will provide for the Purple Serpent enough dosage to immunize the entire army from Nitrogen gas. Do we have an understanding?"  
"That's not possible." the professor explained "Our best projection by the end of that period is to synthesize a drug that _may_ be able to counteract Nitrogen Inhalation by _possibly_ a full cycle, but not immunize the body entirely."  
The General sighed "I don't want to have to do this." He opened his jacket and revealed his hand pistol; a very futuristic looking devise, a laser sight, holographic cross hairs a mix of modern and almost steampunk appearance, straight lines and perfect curves intermixed with layered metals and intricate detail. It in itself was a masterpiece of design. Tsajei repeated himself "Do. We. Have. An. Understanding?"  
The professor was frightened but put on a brave front. "You're threats will not hurry us along, if anything it will cause us to cower in fear and halt our work altogether. I fail to see how this will help you." For several seconds the two were in a standoff; Tsajei used his weapon to intimidate the scientist into yielding, but this trick had failed. The professor is at the mercy of the General, however he knows that if he dies so too does the plan to conquer Earth.  
Tsajei knew he was going to lose; he lowered his weapon and placed it back into the holster inside his jacket. "You're a very lucky man professor; you have just bought yourself some time to continue your research."  
General Tsajei then turned around to leave, but the professor had to ask. "General, I must ask a question."  
Tsajei sighed "What is it now?"  
"With respect sir, I must know why you push us? Why do you come here to harass us to complete our research?"  
Again Tsajei sighed and he turned around. "The reason I come here is because there has been a change on 2416-3." He decided to return to the professor and explain what was happening on Earth. "I've made a terrible mistake and I need to launch our invasion as soon as possible."  
"How so?"  
"It would appear that a new brand of superbeings is beginning to emerge." Tsajei continued "So far only one seems to have surfaced, but it is only a matter of time before more begin to appear. We have to act while we still have the upper hand."  
The professor raised his eyebrow "Just one? Do you think it's a little rash to fret over one superbeing?"  
Tsajei looked down, shaking his head "Stupid scientists." He looked back up to the professor "We are military men; we don't stop to contemplate, we act on what we see. We enter a battlefield and determine how to defeat the enemy in it." Tsajei paused to emphasize his next point. "The battlefield is changing professor; we must change our strategy to neutralize the threat."  
The professor nodded along "I cannot promise total immunity General. What I can promise is that by the end of the next cycle we do expect to be able to have a formula for AN46I-5 that can counteract the effect of Nitrogen Inhalation for at least half of a cycle. Should everything go to plan we will be able to provide the Purple Serpent with the necessary dosage and you then will be able to begin you plan for conquest."  
Tsajei smirked "I knew we could count of you." He then turned again and once again left the room. The professor sighed, thinking about exactly how to pinpoint the right chemicals and the right dosage for this drug. Then he snapped, he remembered the test subject in the chamber, he looked back at the screen and saw him lying on the floor like so many others before him. He too was trying to reach the mirror to call for help, but alas, just a moment after the professor noticed him he also lost his life and his hand, outstretched in desperation, fell to the floor. The test subject thought has was prepared to die for the empire, but in truth no one is truly prepared - no one can ever say to themselves they are genuinely happy to end their life and then do so without a trace of a doubt lingering in the back of their minds, wondering what would happen if they continued to live. No one is ever truly prepared for death.

The professor sighed; his work condemned another soul to the underworld. He pressed a button and a large square vent appeared from the top, draining the room of all the toxic gas. It took just a few seconds for the room to be empty, just a vacuum with nothing but a chair and a corpse. The vent rose back up to the ceiling and then the room was pressurized with air. After the noise had subsided the door opened and a man in a laboratory coat picked up and dragged the poor soul out of the room. The professor then called over a microphone "Bring it the next test subject." An alien woman was sent into the chamber, the whole process would start all over again.


End file.
